Domestic Music Making in Late Eighteenth-Century Elite Chesapeake Society: The "Elegant Selections" of Shirley Plantation

Sarah Gentry Glosson

Williamsburg, Virginia

Bachelor of Arts, The College of William and Mary, 1998

A Thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of

Master of Arts

American Studies Program

The College of William and Mary January 2009

APPROVAL PAGE

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

Approved by the Committee, May 2008

committee Cha Associate Professor Karin Wulf, History and American Studies

The College of William and Mary

cGovern, American Studies and History of William and Mary

ABSTRACT PAGE

In late eighteenth-century Chesapeake society, music making in the home was not simply a leisure activity; it was a social endeavor through which the middle and upper classes were able to express and experience their gentility, and thereby display their taste, status, and wealth. As a prominent family of the Chesapeake, the Carters of Shirley Plantation used music as a way of representing - and engaging with - their status within society.

The eighteenth-century sheet music collection of Shirley Plantation provides crucial evidence of the style and genre of music being consumed in the home of an elite family. Yet this collection also reveals aspects of the practice and function of domestic music making among late eighteenth-century Chesapeake elites when considered within the context of the physical environment in which the music was consumed, as well as in conjunction with contemporary letters, diaries, and documents from Shirley and other Virginia plantations.

In this thesis I describe the relevant history of Shirley Plantation and the unusual musical instrument that is thought to have been in the house in the late eighteenth century, an organized harpsichord. I supply a description of the sheet music in general, offer specific examples from the collection to illustrate the music's style and relevance, and suggest how some of this music may have been performed. I discuss the parlor as a semi-public space for the performance of music as well as the performance of identity and status, and thereby suggest how musical performance functioned in the lives of late eighteenth-century elites. I argue that the parlor, a semi-public space, was a stage on which cultural identity was constituted, defined, and redefined.

The music the Carters consumed during the Early Republic reveals an adherence to fashion expected of a family of elite status, yet certain selections also stand out as significant choices that can illuminate the Carters' conception of their world. The inclusion of an early anti-slavery work, lnkle and Yarico (1787), and songs from the 1790s that sympathize with the plight of the French royal family, indicate an engagement with the tensions inherent in the elite lifestyle within the Early Republic. The Carters' choice of sheet music - and the performance of that music in the Shirley parlor - suggests the family's tastes, but more significantly offers a nuanced and complex view of the role of music making in elite society.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 111

Introduction 1

Chapter I - The Organized Harpsichord at Shirley in the Era of Charles Carter, 1771 to 1806 11

Chapter II - The Sheet Music of Shirley Plantation 17

Chapter III - Praxis and Function of Domestic Music Making in Early Republic Chesapeake Plantation Society 41

Evidence from Women's Diaries of Performance on the Parlor Stage 48

Performance of "Cultural Retrospection" in the Shirley Parlor 52

Conclusions 62

Appendix

The Sheet Music by Date 64

The Sheet Music by Composition Type 65

Brief Timeline of Shirley Plantation 67

Children of Charles Carter 67

Bibliography 68

Vita 76

DEDICATION

For Lee, Calum & Aidan,

And my parents, Joe & Eunice With love and gratitude

11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank my committee, Karin Wulf, Charles McGovern, and Katherine Preston, who were supportive through an inordinately long process and whose comments were thorough, thoughtful, and insightful. In addition, I am grateful for the careful reading of early portions of this thesis by Chandos Brown, Arthur Knight, and Rhys Isaac.

John Watson of Colonial Williamsburg originally (and astutely) told me that the Shirley sheet music collection needed attention. Christine Crumlish Joyce, formerly of Shirley Plantation, was incredibly generous with her time, sharing with me her carefully researched knowledge of the Carters. The staff at the Rockefeller Library was unfailingly helpful.

iii

INTRODUCTION

On a Tuesday in March 1797, Frances Baylor Hill, a young lady living in

Virginia, recorded in her diary the activities of the day that she deemed most notable:

""read a little sew' d on the shirt play' don the Harpsichord & Mandalin, walk' d with Miss

Betty to her henhouse, got some eggs, had the company of Mr John Roane, & Mr Wm

Grigory to sup with us." 1 On another occasion she wrote, "knit a little on my stocking,

read a little, play'd a little, & sung a little." Music making, like sewing and reading, was

an innocent and beneficial diversion for young people, especially young women living in

late eighteenth-century Chesapeake plantation society.

A popular song of this era, "Be Gone Dull Care" ( c. 1793 ), expressed the

sentiment that music provided an excellent means to pass time, and dispel cares.

Be gone dull care, I prithee be gone from me, Be gone dull care, You and I shall never agree; Long time thou hast been tarrying here,

and fain thou would' st me kill, But in faith dull care thou never shall have thy will; Too much care will make a Young Man Grey,

and too much care will turn an Old Man to Clay; My Wife shall dance and I will sing so merrily pass the day, For I hold it one of the wisest things to drive dull care away.2

This song is one of forty pieces of music from the last quarter of the eighteenth century

comprising a collection of sheet music that belonged to the Carters of Shirley Plantation

1 Bottorff, HDiary of Francis Baylor Hill (l 797)," 19. 2 Shirley Plantation Collection, box 114, folder 6. Rockefeller Library Special Collections, Williamsburg, Virginia. Future citations of materials from this collection will be given as "SPC" followed by box and folder numbers.

2

in Virginia. In the eighteenth-century world of the Chesapeake, music making in the

home was a wonderful way to "drive dull care away," but it was not simply a leisure

activity. One can imagine the sounds of this music reverberating within the well­

appointed parlor of Shirley: an elegant young person displaying talent, education, and

refinement among family, friends, and visitors; the sheet music on the keyboard

instrument, an inconspicuous yet crucial element in a scene of elite culture. Music

making within the semi-public parlor was a social endeavor through which the middle

and upper classes were able to express and experience their gentility, and thereby display

their taste, status, and wealth. As a prominent family of the Chesapeake, the Carters of

Shirley used music as an entertaining pastime, but also as a way of representing - and

engaging with - their status within society.

Shirley Plantation on the James River in Virginia was established by English

settlers as early as 1613. This land in Charles City County has been passed down through

eleven generations of descendents of the original owners, the Hills. Since 1723, when

heiress Elizabeth Hill married John Carter (son of Robert "King" Carter), the plantation

has been owned and occupied by Carters, as have many plantations across Virginia.

Because the property has remained within the same family for generations, many of the

plantation's buildings, historical records, and objects have been preserved.

In 1991 a collection of documents, letters, books, photos, ephemera, and music

from Shirley was brought out of storage (in barns and attics) and deposited in Colonial

Williamsburg's John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library. The Shirley Plantation Collection,

1650-1989 contains 16,000 items, 93 volumes, 1400 photographs, and 1000 books that

3

have been indexed and organized into containers by date and item type.3 The collection

includes several containers of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early twentieth-century sheet

music. It is the sheet music from the last quarter of the eighteenth century with which this

thesis is concerned. This portion of the sheet music collection corresponds to the era from

1771 to 1806 during which Charles Carter (1732-1806) was patriarch at Shirley.4 The

Shirley Plantation sheet music from the late eighteenth century is representative of the

most popular and fashionable music that was consumed by middle- and upper-class

families in both America and England in this period and includes comic operas, ballads,

popular songs, and instrumental chamber works for keyboard. All of this music was

printed in London, reflecting the pervasiveness of British musical culture in America's

Early Republic.

The Shirley sheet music collection is a crucial resource; it offers evidence of the

style and genre of music being consumed in the home of an elite family, and suggests

domestic music making practices when considered in the context of the physical

environment in which the music was consumed. Sheet music collections from the late

eighteenth century such as this one are rare; there is therefore a lacuna in eighteenth-

century cultural studies and musicology where domestic music making is concerned,

3 A nearly 700 page PDF file of the Rockefeller Special Collections finding aid for the Shirley Collection is available on-line at http://www.history.org/history/jdrlwcb/guides/spcccolaids.cfm 4 The latest piece of music in the eighteenth-century portion of the collection appears to date from 1800. There is a clear break in the sheet music collection between the end of the era of Charles Carter and the beginning of the residence of Hill Carter in 1816. Charles died in 1806 and his widow Anne remained at Shirley until her death three years later. The next portion of music that appears in the collection was published after 1816 when Hill Carter took possession of Shirley upon coming of age. There appears to have been no new music acquired between about 1800 and 1816. Music from that period may have once been at Shirley, but no longer exists as part of the collection.

which this study will attempt to remedy. While much eighteenth-century sheet music

survives in archives today, it does not always retain a recognizable provenance

associating it with specific individuals, families, or homes that might suggest cultural

context. As a result, scholars have paid more attention to the more abundant resources

and evidence of nineteenth-century musical practices in the home. The eighteenth­

century Shirley sheet music collection, when considered within the context of

contemporary letters, diaries, and business documents from Shirley and other Virginia

plantations, and the extant physical context provided by the great house, outbuildings,

and period material objects at Shirley, can offer a picture of domestic music making of

late eighteenth-century Chesapeake elites. Furthermore, this view of domestic music

making can be useful in accessing several correlated issues in the shifting landscape of

the Early Republic, such as gender, identity formation, and the role of elites and elite

culture in the nascent republican society.

4

Few scholars have considered the role of music making in early American homes,

particularly late eighteenth-century homes. This study attempts to fill two voids: a lack of

recent scholarship on late eighteenth-century sheet music in general, and specifically, a

deficiency in our understanding of the function and importance of domestic music

making and its practices.

Nicholas Tawa's Sweet Songs.for Gentle Americans: the Parlor Song in America,

1790-1860 addresses the fact that most American parlor music was British until about

1810, but ultimately has little else to say on the subject. 5 Tamara Livingston briefly

considers domestic music making in America through the popularity of guitar-style

5 Tawa, Sweet Songs/or Gentle Americans, 6.

instruments. While her study is an excellent resource on the repertoire and popularity of

the English guitar in particular (a cittern family instrument popular with women the

eighteenth century), it falls short of elucidating the significance of domestic music

k. 6 ma mg.

Judith Britt and Helen Cripe have both written about eighteenth-century sheet

5

music collections that are associated with specific individuals, but their work is of a now

out-moded style of musicology. Britt's Nothing More Agreeable is a glossy publication

on the music of George Washington's family. She considers the music collection in

relation to other carefully kept family records and evidence. 7 The specifics of who played

what music upon which instrument in this family are clear in contrast with the complete

lack of such evidence at Shirley. Although Nothing More Agreeable is a lovely resource,

Britt does not venture into the significance of the music collection within a greater

cultural context, nor does she use the collection to contribute to our understanding of

domestic music practices. Helen Cripe's Thomas Jefferson and Music presents evidence

of Jefferson's relationship to music, regarding the instruments he purchased, the music he

selected, and the encouragement he gave his daughters and granddaughters.8 Like Britt,

Cripe does not attempt to uncover the broader context of private music making in the

eighteenth century.

In general, traditional musicologists have tended to treat domestic music making

as a subject of far less consequence than public forms of music making in concert halls,

opera houses, and theaters. In their survey chapters in Music in Britain: the Eighteenth

6 See, Livingston, "'Strike the Light Guitar"': The Guitar and Domestic Music-making in America, 1750-1850." 7 Britt, Nothing More Agreeable: Music in George Washington's Family, passim. 8 Cripe, Thomas Jefferson and Music, passim.

6

Century, preeminent musicologists Roger Fiske and Stanley Sadie demonstrate disdain

for the vast majority of the music that was performed and consumed and show preference

for the few composers and works that have gained a place in the art music canon.9 In his

chapter called "Music in the Home, 1760-1800" Sadie rightly discusses the vast output of

music printing shops as prime evidence of the prevalence of domestic music making, and

of what people were buying. 10 But he goes no further than to outline the popular genres

of music for sale and offer examples of the "best" music of each genre by the "most

important" composers. In keeping with the outmoded style of musicology of which this

comprehensive volume is representative, the actual day-to-day music-making activities

that were part of most peoples' lives in the eighteenth century are ignored.

The work of scholars Richard Leppert and Ann Bermingham are central to this

investigation of music making at Shirley Plantation because of the attention they pay to

evidence that reveals the complexities of gender within the domestic realm. Scholarship

dedicated to women in music has tended to focus on public music - women composers,

performers, and conductors - and has ignored the realm in which music and women are

historically most intimately connected: in the home. 11 Leppert' s excellent work, Music

and Image: Domesticity, Ideology and Socio-cultural Formation in Eighteenth-century

England, shows how a creative approach to evidence can reveal volumes about social

praxis. Using portraiture, prints, caricatures, and other types of images from the

eighteenth century paired with various forms of documentary evidence (diaries, letters,

9 See Johnstone and Fiske, eds. Music in Britain. 10 Sadie, "Music in the Home," in Johnstone and Fiske, eds. Music in Britain, 313-315. 11 For scholarship that ignores the relationship between women and domestic music making see, Pendle, ed., Women and Music: A History; Ammer, Unsung: A History of Women in American Music.

7

conduct and courtesy books), Leppert vividly reconstructs the ideology of music in the

domestic lives of British women and men. He also attempts to uncover some of the actual

practices of music making in the home, from learning and instruction to the performing

of accomplishments. 12

Ann Bermingham does not so much consider music in her scholarship, but in

looking at women's accomplishments (drawing in particular) she reveals a great deal

about the role of learning and subsequently demonstrating artistic accomplishments in the

lives of young British women. Bermingham views "modes of aesthetic representation

[ ... as] part of the social fabric," and demonstrates how the doing and presenting of

aesthetically driven accomplishments was a means for individuals to "negotiate their

subjectivity," or identity. 13 Bermingham convincingly uses evidence in the novels of Jane

Austen to illustrate British conventions in the late eighteenth century. While the

scholarship of Leppert and Bermingham deal exclusively with British cultural practices,

they provide an excellent starting point for evaluating evidence of music-making

practices in culturally British America from the same period.

This thesis employs one family's music collection to study elite Chesapeake

plantation society and its domestic music-making practices. I apply to sheet music what

Rhys Isaac theorizes about the "distinctive properties" of books, which have "captured

voices" with the ability to tell the stories a society tells itself about itself. 14 The texts and

aesthetics of music contain and transmit stories of love, morality, social institutions,

12 Leppert, Music and Image, passim. 13 Bermingham, Learning to Draw, ix, xiii. 14 Isaac, Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom, 89-90.

8

emotion, and sensibility, as well as stories that connect the listener to a particular social

group and differentiate that individual from those outside that group.

The long eighteenth century in both Britain and America witnessed the emergence

of the Self as a central societal construct, and a simultaneous rise in consumerism. 15 An

individual sense of personal identity16 became prominent in people's lives, and found

expression through the consumption and display of material objects. Historian Leora

Auslander suggests that objects are agents able to reflect and - more importantly - create

both social position and self-identity. 17 This view of material culture can be applied to

sheet music. I suggest that sheet music is a unique type of object that is an agent of the

self on two levels. It is an agent as an object (in the sense Auslander describes), and it is

an agent in and through the performance of music - an activity of cultural reproduction.

Through the consumption of music and its consequent performance the Carters of Shirley

were defining and negotiating the parameters of their social and individual identities.

The semi-public realm of the parlor in the homes of late eighteenth-century

Chesapeake elites served as a stage for cultural presentations of identity - both an

individual's identity and the group identity to which that individual belonged. These

identity "'performances" were conducted through the presentation of what Erving

Goffman describes as controlled "ordinary" behaviors intended to express and impress. 18

15 See, e.g., Wahrman, The Making of the Modern Self; McKendrick, Brewer and Plumb, The Birth of a Consumer Society. 16 Identity can be understood, according to Wahrman, both as the "unique individuality of a person," and as the "common denominator that places an individual within a group." (Wahrman, The Making of the Modern Self, xii.) 17 Auslander, "Beyond Words," paragraph 6. 18 Goff man, The Presentation of Self, passim. Goffman defines performance as "all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants." ( 15)

9

Yet identities were also being performed - in a more traditional sense of the word -

through musical performance. Borrowing from Greg Dening and Rhys Isaac's methods of

using a metaphor of theater (by way of Victor Turner) to make sense of a historical

setting, I view the parlor in elite eighteenth-century Virginia as a stage on which cultural

identity was constantly being constituted, defined, and redefined. 19 The performance of

music on the parlor '"stage" was a reflexive act, and therefore served as a

.. performance" of gentility, taste, and status.

Although there is less extant evidence than scholars would like to help explicate

the habits and sounds of music making in American homes in the eighteenth century,

what evidence there is can be fertile for a scholar who is willing to be creative. Simply to

raise questions about the how, why, where, when, and who of domestic music making is

to move toward an understanding of a pervasive practice. An understanding of music

making in the home can lead to further understanding of many other aspects of society,

culture, and daily life in the eighteenth century.

Shirley Plantation provides a venue for better understanding the meaning and

context of music making in late eighteenth-century Chesapeake planter society. Shirley's

sheet music requires a consideration of the popularity of British music in America, music

consumption habits, gender roles and social hierarchy of the Early Republic, and the

physical environment of the great house and its semi-public parlor. Chapter one briefly

describes the relevant history of Shirley Plantation and the musical instrument that is

thought to have been in the house in the late eighteenth century. Chapter two supplies a

19 For a succinct explanation of this approach see Dening, in Hoffman et al, Through a Glass Darkly; for Isaac's use of the metaphor of theater see, "Discourse on Method" in Tramformation of Virginia.

IO

description of the sheet music in general, offers specific examples from the collection to

illustrate the music's style and relevance, and suggests how some of this music may have

been performed. Chapter three discusses the parlor as a space for the performance of

music as well as identity and status, and suggests how musical performance functioned in

the lives of late eighteenth-century elites. The music of the Shirley collection, viewed in

conjunction with contemporary evidence from the diaries of two young women of

Virginia, reveals some aspects of the practice and function of domestic music making,

especially in the lives of women.

The music the Carters chose to consume during the Early Republic reveals an

adherence to fashion expected of a family of elite status, yet certain selections also stand

out as significant choices that can illuminate the Carters' conception of their world. The

inclusion of an early anti-slavery work, lnkle and Yarico (1787), and songs from the

1790s that sympathize with the plight of the French royal family indicate an engagement

(through performance) with the tensions inherent in the elite lifestyle within the newly

unfolding landscape of the Early Republic. The Carters' choice of sheet music - and the

performance of that music in the Shirley parlor - suggests the family's tastes, but more

significantly offers a nuanced and complex view of the role of music making in elite

society.

I I

CHAPTER I

The Organized Harpsichord at Shirley in the Era of Charles Carter, 1771 to 1806

In 1771, Charles Carter ( 1732-1806), son of Elizabeth and John Carter, inherited

Shirley upon the death of his mother and began renovating the buildings. 1 For twenty

years prior to 1771 Shirley had been owned and occupied by Elizabeth and her second

husband, Bowler Cocke. During that period Shirley was prosperous, yet the brick great

house and its surrounding brick structures had been allowed to fall into disrepair.2 By

1770 Charles Carter had married his second wife, Anne Butler Moore Carter, and already

had several children between the ages of three and nine-years old. Charles fathered a total

of twenty-three children, fourteen of whom lived to adulthood. Until the renovated

Shirley was ready for occupation, Charles lived at another of his seats, Corotoman in

Lancaster County, where he had lived for much of his life.

The 1780s and 1790s were a very prosperous time at Shirley Plantation. Tax

records of the 1780s indicate that Charles Carter owned more slaves and cattle than any

other man in Virginia. 3 Because Shirley Plantation is only 20 miles from what had

1 John Carter was the first son of Robert "King" Carter. Therefore, Charles of Shirley was grandson of King Carter, and nephew to Landon of Sabine and Robert ofNomini. 2 Lynn, •'Shirley Plantation, A History," 66. Thomas Jefferson wrote that when Bowler Cocke died, '"he left [Shirley] improved and increased to a very great degree," meaning that the land was productive. However, while the land was prosperous, the house had been allowed to decay. (ibid.) 3 Lynn, ""Shirley Plantation," 74. His total land holdings included 35, 188 acres across eight counties.

12

become the new state capital of Richmond in 1780, the Carters had access during this

period to newly expanded social and cultural opportunities.

In 1806, at the death of Charles Carter, Hill Carter (son of Robert) inherited

Shirley from his grandfather when he was only ten years old, but did not take possession

of the property until he came of age in 1816. Anne, Charles' widow, remained at Shirley

until her death in 1809, after which a sale of household goods and furniture took place in

order to distribute some of the household property among the family.4 Some of the

objects not sold at that time remain in the house today. Among the items sold were goods

that had been listed in the inventory taken at the death of Charles Carter.5

The only musical object6 on this inventory is "'one Organized Harpsichord,"

valued far higher than any other single object on the inventory ($200). An organized

harpsichord is an atypical keyboard instrument, also known as a claviorgan. This

instrument is no longer at Shirley, but its mention on the 1806 inventory is quite

significant: it informs our understanding of music making at Shirley plantation and,

perhaps more important, it is the only known mention of an organized instrument in

Virginia in the eighteenth century.7

4 Lynn, 87. Lynn discusses the sale, but according to more recent unpublished research by Shirley Curator Christine Crumlish Joyce, the sale was a formality not intended to raise funds. Instead it was a means to gently subvert Charles' will, which had settled the whole estate on Hill. 5 The inventory can be found in Lynn, 80-85. 6 It is possible that the Carters also owned music stands and/or other music instruments, such as those from among the most popular instruments of the era - pianoforte, violin, German flute, and English guitar. These instruments were prevalent in the period and are frequently called for in the instrumentation of the sheet music in the Shirley Collection. 7 John R. Watson, phone conversation author (August 2, 2005). Watson, conservator of musical instruments for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, stated that he has never before come across evidence of an organized instrument in early Virginia.

13

An organized harpsichord is a hybrid instrument with both the strings of a

harpsichord and the pipes of an organ. The pipes are installed in a case below the case of

the harpsichord. These instruments could have either a single or double manual (one or

two sets of keys). When played, the harpsichord and organ could be engaged together to

produce simultaneously both a plucked and sustained sound. Or, each component could

be played alone. In the late eighteenth century, organized pianofortes were also available

for sale. Organized instruments were made by several of the most prominent keyboard

builders in England, including Jacob Kirckman (instrument builder to the King), but are

extremely rare today. An extant claviorgan (today in a private collection) built jointly in

the 1740s by Kirckman and organ builder John Snetzler is likely to be similar to the one

owned by the Carters.8

This Georgian style instrument has beautiful marquetry upon

finished wood with elaborate grain and figuration. The case in which the organ is housed

has several doors that can be opened for the pipes' sound to escape the instrument, but

these can be also closed for a softer sound, or for a neater appearance when not in use.

The Kirckman-Snetzler claviorgan has two levers that protrude from the bottom of the

case and that when pressed, pump air through the pipes. The locations of the levers gives

the option for the air to be pumped either by the musician at the keyboard, or by a second

person standing to the side of the instrument.9

8 Kirckman was a prolific builder whose instruments were very popular among elites of

Virginia. For example, the last Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, kept a Kirckman harpsichord in the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg. 9 New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 4, s. v. "Claviorgan" (by Peter Williams).

14

In eighteenth-century England organized instruments were far less common than

plain harpsichords or pianofortes; situated within the Shirley parlor, the organized

harpsichord would have been a curious and beautiful object for visitors to behold. 10

The workmanship, design, decoration, and builders' marks would have communicated

the value of the instrument, and the values held by the family. Large keyboard

instruments in elite homes represented affluence and a dedication to refinement, or at

least to leisure. 11 A family in a small home with only a few rooms would have had no

space for such a large instrument, but a wealthy planter with a multi-room great house

would have had ample space for a spectacular instrument for display and use. Relative to

other household objects, sheet music was not prohibitively expensive for middle and

upper class white families, but keyboard instruments could cost as much as the equivalent

of one year's wages for a successful working-class tradesman.

All of the Shirley sheet music from the eighteenth century calls for a keyboard

instrument for its performance, but any type of keyboard instrument - harpsichord,

pianoforte, or organ - would have been suitable for the Carters' music making at home.

Eighteenth-century instrumentation almost always required a keyboard instrument, but

decisions about the type of keyboard to use were left to the performer, or were decided by

the instrument at hand. Title pages of sheet music often advertised a piece as being

suitable for harpsichord or pianoforte, or simply listed it as being for clavecin, the generic

term that encompassed all keyboards.

10 The order and grouping of objects listed on the 1806 inventory indicates that this instrument was kept in the parlor. Listed with the instrument are "2 mahogany tea tables," "4 other small I tables I," "l sofa," and "I small writing desk." 11 Leppert, Music and Image, 156.

15

The fact that the Carters owned an organized harpsichord suggests that they were

able to perform their music with great flexibility. A piece could be played with only the

harpsichord, only the organ, or with both portions sounding together. This offered a great

deal of musical variety in performance. Regarding the flexibility and desirability of

organized instruments, Peter Williams points out that "some people appreciated the value

of an instrument suitable both for Sunday-evening psalm-singing and for mid-week

"12 consorts.

However, an organized harpsichord would also have posed a serious difficulty in

the volatile climate of Tidewater Virginia - it would have been unfeasible to keep it in

tune with itself. Harpsichord strings must be tuned nearly every time the instrument is to

be played, but organ pipes, which go out of tune over time, must be tuned professionally

by an instrument repairperson. The number of times, realistically, that the instrument

could have been played with both strings and pipes sounding together - and in tune -

must have been limited.

Why did the Carters own such an unusual instrument? There are several

interpretations that might explain its presence. Why did they not simply own a standard

harpsichord or pianoforte, or did they perhaps own a second keyboard such as the more

current and fashionable pianoforte? Is it possible that the claviorgan belonged to Charles,

but that another more standard type of keyboard instrument was owned by Anne? The

instrument's inclusion in the 1806 probate inventory (taken at Charles' death) indicates

that it was considered his property. Any property of his wife's would not have been

listed. According to Christine Crumlish Joyce, curator at Shirley, it is clear that Charles

12 Williams, ""The Earl Of Wemyss' Claviorgan," 79.

16

spent lavishly to furnish and decorate his home fashionably and seems to have done so

particularly after the Revolution. 13 Perhaps Charles bought his young wife a new

pianoforte for her amusement and for the education of their children. The organized

instrument may indicate that Charles used music as a scientific pursuit more than an

artistic one. Eighteenth-century courtesy and conduct books in some cases encouraged

gentlemen to pursue the scientific, theoretical, and intellectual aspects of music - a mode

of musicianship that the organized harpsichord may have afforded. 14 This rational

approach reflected a gentleman's education in a way that was distinct from a woman's

more elegantly artistic pursuits.

The instrument may have been a novelty that their neighbors lacked, and which

displayed wealth and worldliness. Perhaps it was an older instrument that had been in the

family's possession for some time. Or could the instrument represent a subtle,

aesthetically based choice? The Carters may have preferred the timbre and flexibility

provided by the organized instrument. As a prominent Virginia family, the Carters of

Shirley used music as an entertaining pastime, but also as a way of representing their

status and gentility. As such, their ownership of an organized instrument is both curious

and significant.

13 Christine Joyce, conversation with author, April 2006. 14 Leppert, Music and Image, 22-23. For example, Charles' uncle Robert Carter of Nomini Hall was known for his scientific experiments with musical instruments. (See Barden, ""Innocent and Necessary.")

17

CHAPTER2

The Sheet Music of Shirley Plantation

Jn spite of the unpopularity which politics will annex to the assertion, the manners of Virginia are English.

- Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1797. 1

Jn Amelia [Virginia} I could have again fancied myself in a society of English Country Gentlemen (a character to which I attach everything that is desirable as to education,

domestic comfort, manners and principle~~. - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1796.2

The Early Republic witnessed both great change and remarkable stability. While

everything from culture to politics and government was in flux, the rapid transformation

from British colony to American nation entailed important continuity in cultural identity

and habits of consumption. Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe observed a "hatred felt by

the Virginians ... in general. .. to the British." He comments in his journal, "I have often

thought it strange that it should be already forgotten that at furthest the two Nations are

first Cousins."3 Latrobe's observations of Virginia reveal the irony that while some

Americans were disdainful of their "first Cousins," American manners and culture

remained British.

1 Carter, Edward C., ed. The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1795-1798, 330. Journal entry dated 12 November 1797. The journals of English architect (and music lover) Benjamin Henry Latrobe reveal the observations of a well-traveled and educated man on the status of Virginia society at the end of the eighteenth century. 2 Ibid., 127. Letter to Colonel Blackburn, Rippon Lodge, Dumfries on the Potomac. 3 Ibid., 306. Entry dated 13 October 1797. (Original emphasis)

18

The Carters of Shirley Plantation, like most upper- and middle-class Americans,

consumed music by English composers, as well as Italian, Austrian, and German works

popular in England.4 The sheet music collection at Shirley is comprised of London-

printed music by composers who were popular and fashionable in Britain, exemplary of

the trend that favored British musical styles and composers in America until the early

nineteenth century.

London was the predominant center for the printing of fashionable music; single

works were often available from more than one printer.5 Americans could purchase

London-printed music directly from London, or from American merchants who imported

it along with other goods. It was not until 1787 that printing of secular sheet music began

in the United States. Even then the business was slow to take off and most of what was

printed represented the same body of works available from Britain.6

American music of this period is scant compared to the large amount of music

that flooded the American market from Britain. The contributions of American

composers and musicians toward building a new national culture were few, isolated, and

novel; they were not readily adopted into the routine musical habits of most white,

middle- and upper-class Americans. 7 Although some of the most prominent Americans

(such as Thomas Jefferson) owned copies of American music, this was not the norm

among music consumers.

4 See, Bullock, "'On Music;" Crawford, America's Musical life; Molnar, "Art Music in Colonial Virginia;" Moon, HA Study of Common Music;" Sonneck, all titles; Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Music. 5 For scholarship on the vast array of shops that printed music in London and the catalogues of what they printed in the eighteenth century see, Kidson, British Music Publishers; Schappner, British Union-Catalogue; Squire, Catalogue of Printed Music. 6 Crawford, America's Musical Life, 223-6. 7 See Crawford, all titles; Sonneck, all titles.

19

In the Early Republic the Carters selected only London-printed music that was

fashionable in Britain for their use at home. A few of the pieces in the collection were

available for sale in both American and English imprints, and similar music was available

from printers in cities such as Edinburgh, Paris, or Dublin. However, it was likely more

convenient, and part of a habit of consumption established before the Revolutionary War,

to procure music directly from firms with which the Carters did business in London. 8 It is

also possible that the Carters made a conscious decision to buy London-printed music

because of an association it may have held with fashion and superiority. London was a

major cultural center and Britons and Americans avidly followed its musical fashions.

When selecting music to perform at home, the Carters chose the aesthetic language that

they had always known and that held cachet in their sphere.

Music consumed by the middle and upper classes of the late eighteenth century

was written with their tastes and desires in mind, rather than for purely artistic reasons.

Many, if not most, composers of the late eighteenth century wrote music that fit the

popular mold rather than that attempted to break that mold for artistic gain; they wrote

music that would sell. Popular music of this period called for the same trappings as more

cultivated art music (appropriate settings, instruments, etc.), and although learning to play

it was considered an important part of elite education this music was meant to entertain

rather than enlighten. It provided the basis for an activity that was suitable and productive

amusement for both men and women.9

8 No evidence of how the Carters procured their music has been uncovered, but was likely done through factors. Charles Carter used his factors to order custom silver pieces from London. 9 Smith, Inside the Great House, 63-65.

20

There are forty works of eighteenth-century music in the Shirley Plantation

Collection 10 representing the period from as early as 1770 to 1800. 11 Included are sixteen

popular songs that were printed and sold individually. These songs represent the hit tunes

of London theatrical presentations; their title pages advertised as much with wording such

as, ""A Favorite Song, Sung by Mr. Taylor with Universal Applause at Vauxhall

Gardens." 12 Also in the collection are eight instrumental works for keyboard, some of

which have accompaniment parts for the flute or violin. These are printed either singly or

in collections of six or twelve sonatas each. There is one set of instrumental dance pieces

arranged for keyboard or English guitar that includes directions for the dances, one

unidentified keyboard tutorial (it is missing the first several pages), 13 and one fragment of

miscellaneous works for keyboard. There are four collections of ballads or songs scored

for voicc(s), keyboard, and in some cases additional instruments. There are nine multi-

movement vocal works, including secular cantatas, comic operas, and other stage

10 The collection also includes a large amount of music from the nineteenth century not addressed here. See the Appendix for a listing of the eighteenth-century music. 11 The sheet music publication dates given here refer to the first possible year that a work was available from the particular printer who produced the version in the Shirley collection. Many of these works were available from several printers and were often reprinted for several years. In order make sheet music appear current and new (and therefore desirable) dates were not generally included on sheet music imprints. A work may have been available for years before the Carters purchased it. For a discussion of the practice of omitting dates see Wolfe, Early American Music Engraving and Printing, and Crawford and Krummel in Joyce, Printing and Society in Early America. 12 SPC, 114/1. u Keyboard tutorials were intended for use in the home to teach amateur musicians to play a keyboard instrument. Many different tutorials were available for sale. Most of these teach basic technique, ornamentation, and offer suggestions for playing musically. They often include exercises as well as short pieces, which become more difficult as the tutorial progresses.

21

works. 14 These are in vocal score format - scored for keyboard and voices, and in some

cases also include cues or sparse parts for other instruments as needed. 15 Most include the

overture and all the songs from the stage work.

Extant sheet music from this period found in other collections is sometimes bound

with leather or board covers. The volumes that belonged to Jefferson and Washington, for

example, arc bound in this manner. 16 The eighteenth-century Shirley sheet music, in

contrast, is not bound but instead appears to have been printed and purchased in stitch

book format, in which string is simply looped through two or three holes on the edge of

the sheets and tied. For most of the music the title page serves as a cover, but in some

cases there is an extra sheet of blank, rough paper placed to form a front and/or back

cover. Only one work has a decorative marbleized paper cover. Some of these stitch

books consist of a single work, such as an entire comic opera, and others consist of

several single pieces of music that are unrelated, and often printed by different

establishments. It is difficult to know whether the latter compilations were stitched by a

merchant selling works from several publishers, or were compiled and stitched together

by the purchaser.

All of the eighteenth-century sheet music exhibits a signature that says "Shirley,"

perhaps suggesting that the music was thought of as belonging to the house rather than

14 In music printers' inventories and newspaper announcements of theatrical performances, these stage works are ref erred to interchangeably as comic operas, musical entertainments, musical farces, or simply, operas. These terms are representative of the myriad genres of musical theater of the period. For purposes here, they will be referred to as comic operas or stage works. 15 The scores for these multi-movement vocal works are not full scores with string, wind, and/or brass parts that a stage company would have required, but are examples of vocal scores reduced from the original versions to require only voice(s) and keyboard. These were sold to the public for consumption at home. 16 See Cripe on Jefferson, and Britt on Washington.

22

one particular individual. Perhaps the Carters owned a separate set of music for use at

their other home at Corotoman. 17 The signature usually appears at the top of the blank

cover sheet or title page and seems to date from the late eighteenth century when the

music was new.

In addition to the ""Shirley" signature, there are other instances of handwritten

marks in the music such as doodling and nonsense. However, there are no performance

markings or musical marginalia anywhere in the music. Music that has been regularly

used for practice, teaching, or performance typically shows evidence of such use in the

form of fingerings, dynamic markings, or phrasing indications. Other examples of

eighteenth-century sheet music in the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

have handwritten performance markings that include notes on technique and musicality,

and directions for practicing.

The striking lack of performance markings in the Shirley music could be

interpreted in different ways. Perhaps the Carters used their music carefully and chose to

avoid markings in order to make it more legible for multiple users, or perhaps one very

proficient musician who did not find markings necessary used the music. Or could the

lack of markings indicate disuse? It is also possible that music once existed that was full

of markings, but that only clean sheets were preserved by later generations. Regardless of

the absence of musical handwritten marks, there are other interesting (and often

charming) markings on these sheets of music such as sketches and doodling found on a

few title pages and back covers. These markings could be construed as evidence that the

17 Charles Carter had lived solely at Corotoman until the early 1770s when he took possession of Shirley, after which he moved between his two households for a number of years.

23

Shirley sheet music was only a perfunctory household decoration and not used for music

making. However, evidence that the Carters owned an organized harpsichord, a unique

and expensive instrument, implies that the sheet music was not simply a decoration.

There is no evidence to suggest which family members were musical, however

the children by Charles' second wife, Anne, were most likely to have been the household

members who enjoyed the use of the late eighteenth-century sheet music in the collection.

It is possible that Charles Carter and his son, Robert (1774-1805), were amateur

musicians as sometimes befitted wealthy gentlemen, but it is even more likely that their

wives, Anne Butler Moore Carter ( c.1750-1809) and Mary Nelson Carter ( 1774-1803 ),

respectively, were musical. Becoming musically adept was part of an appropriate

education for young women and was a way for them to appear to good advantage in

social situations; in other words, it was a way for them to attract worthy young men.

Much of the doodling that appears on several sheets of music is redolent of

adolescent handwriting and seems to indicate that young children had access to the

music. The children of Charles and Anne Carter born between 1773 and 1791 would

likely have at least heard the music at Shirley purchased during the 1780s and 1790s, and

may have even been taught to play some of it. One piece of music in particular gives us a

glimpse into the life of a little girl at Shirley who was perhaps shirking her practicing.

On the front cover of a collection of miscellaneous songs and pieces that date to about

1795, there are several handwritten markings that include practice signatures of young

Lucy Carter (b. 1789). 18 There are several uppercase "L's" and other fragments of her

name such as ""Lucy Cart," and ""Luc." The lettering of Lucy's handwriting is thick and

18 SPC, 114/6.

24

lacks the grace of adult penmanship. In another young person's handwriting is written

··Miss. Eliza Nelson," a cousin of Lucy's who may have used this music at her Yorktown

home or when visiting at Shirley. 19

The music of Shirley included works by composers who were popular and

fashionable in England. English composers represented include James Hook (1746-

I 827), William Shield (1748-1829), Samuel Arnold (1740-1802), Thomas Attwood

(1765-1838), and Stephen Storace (1762-1796). Several German, Austrian, and Italian

composers arc also represented, such as J. F. Sterkel (1750-1817), Venanzio Rauzzini

(1746-1810), Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), Tommaso Giordani (c. 1730-1806), F. J.

Haydn (1732-1809), and Ignace Pleyel (1757-1831). Many of these composers lived and

worked in London and/or Dublin for at least part of their careers. Some of the composers

whose music is represented in the collection are fairly obscure today, but most would

have been known to audiences for their contributions to performances at such famous

venues as Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and in concert series in London and Bath.

Rauaini became famous for the weekly Wednesday concerts that he organized in Bath.

Scholar/composer Patrick Piggott asserts that it was these de rigueur performances that

Jane Austen's character Catherine Norland attended in the novel Northanger Abbey.20 In

other words. these composers' names were familiar to any family that could afford the

consumption of music for leisure.

The late eighteenth century in Europe was the cradle of the Classical style

codified and made famous by W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) and F. J. Haydn, both of whom

19 Robert Carter's (1774-1805) children were raised in part by his wife Mary's family, the Nelsons of Yorktown, after the death of both Robert and Mary (d. 1803). (Lynn, "Shirley Plantation, A History," 87.) 20 Piggott, The Innocent Diversion, 39-40.

25

were very active during the years represented by the Shirley collection. Although Mozart

and Haydn are represented in the collection in minor ways (such as in an arrangement of

a I Iaydn melody as a song21 ), most of the music in the Shirley collection falls outside of

what is today considered to be art music of the Classical era. The Classical style

flourished on the Continent, but had less influence on the consumption of music in

Britain.22 In Britain, and therefore America, the distinction between art and popular music

was particularly blurry. An excellent example of this blurriness is found in a fragment of

unidentified music in the Shirley collection that includes three separate pieces that appear

to be from a single gather of sheets that was once in a much larger bound volume of

music: "'Sonata II" by Thomas Haigh (1769-1808) for keyboard, "Scottish Air" arranged

by I laigh, and "'The Fowler, A Favorite Air extracted from the celebrated German Opera

of the Zaubertlote Composed by Mozart." Mozart is juxtaposed in this gathering with

Haigh, a musician who did more arranging of works than composing and about whom

very little is known today. 23 The distinctions we might draw between these two men

today meant less to consumers of music in the eighteenth century.

Generally speaking, the music most widely consumed in the home in England and

America in the late eighteenth century was moderate in tempo and reasoned in style. The

bass lines are mostly uncomplicated and straightforward but can sometimes be very

active. The melodies are usually either energetic or sentimental. The music owned by the

Carters of Shirley may have been fashionable at the time, but much of it is now

21 SPC 115/3. 22 See Leppert Music and Image; Johnstone and Fiske, Music in Britain. 23 New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 10, s. v. "Thomas Haigh" (by Peter Platt).

26

considered artistically unremarkable. Twentieth-century music scholars tended to belittle

much of this music despite its obvious popularity among eighteenth-century music lovers.

Musicologist Diack Johnstone, for example, refers to the style of music that

developed in England in the second half of the eighteenth century as depending on

"somewhat insipid and musically vacuous prettiness."24 The Mozart scholar Stanley Sadie

says that some of this music should be '"flattered to be called third-rate. "25 These

characterizations are somewhat ahistorical because they assess the music not as it was

judged at the time, but rather in the context of the art music canon developed in the

twentieth century. For instance, James Hook wrote over 2000 songs most of which were

widely available for sale, popular, and successful, yet he does not receive mention in

most music history textbooks. The view that this music is irrelevant or not worth

scholarly notice is short-sighted considering the role this music played in the domestic

realm. Rather than compare the music fashionable in Britain with the recognized genius

of Mozart, it is worth considering the value of music that was popular for home

consumption in Britain and America, represented by the Shirley collection, on its own

terms.

The majority of music published for home use was fairly accessible, both

intellectually and musically, and was therefore appropriate for amateurs. The goal of the

music consumed in the home was to enable amateurs to produce pleasing performances

for entertainment. As such, the performance and performer are allowed to shine while the

music is simply a vehicle for expression. In vocal compositions the sounds themselves

arc almost subservient to the text. It is accessible music with entertainment value that

24 Johnstone, "Music in the Home I," in Johnstone and Fiske, eds. Music in Britain, 165. 2~ Sadie, "Music in the Home II," in Johnstone and Fiske, eds. Music in Britain, 324.

27

docs not call for much sophistication on the part of the listener. A great deal of music

from the late eighteenth century, like that in the Shirley collection, is light and

undemanding, even when presenting emotional or moral content.

Comic operas off er a perfect example of this light quality in music. As the theater

going public in London grew to include more of the middle and lower classes, comic

opera took the place of more "'serious" works like the opera seria of Handel from earlier

in the century. 26 The plots are loosely constructed and highly predictable, and the

musical formula is straightforward. Some of the tunes used for the songs were already

familiar, but set with new texts for the opera. Many professional performances of these

works were part of long evenings of entertainment that included a hodgepodge of

instrumental music, songs, dance, drama, comedy, pratfalls, and the like.27 Composers

such as Arnold, Dibdin, and Shield wrote dozens of comic operas and other genres of

stage works.

There are nine works for the stage arranged for voice(s) with keyboard

accompaniment in the Shirley collection. The scores occasionally include indications for

violins, oboes, or German flutes, but predominantly these vocal scores are intended for

amateur performance with limited instrumentation at home. None of the scores include a

libretto or even a synopsis. These multi-movement vocal works represent several popular

forms of theatrical entertainment such as comic opera, musical drama (or melodrama),

secular cantata, and operatic farce. These stage works were made popular with upper,

middle, and working classes throughout the eighteenth century in both Great Britain and

America through their constant performance at various theaters and pleasure gardens in

26 Hoskins, ~Theatre Music II," in Johnstone and Fiske, eds. Music in Britain, 262. 27 See Brooks, HGood Musical Paste."

and near London such as the Royal Theatres at Covent Garden, Drury Lane, and

28 Haymarket.

Caernarvon Castle (Thomas Attwood), and The Royal Orphan's Dream (Music

28

by James Hook, words by William Palmer) are both secular cantatas (but have also been

called musical dramas), shorter works written in honor of a person or event. The

Mountaineers, an operatic melodrama, lnkle and Yarico, a comic opera, and The

Surrender of Calais, a melodrama, were all plays written by George Colman the

Younger. with music by Dr. Samuel Arnold. The Farmer (music by William Shield,

words by J. O'Keefe) is an operatic farce, The Cherokee (Stephen Storace) is a comic

opera, and Love and Money or the Fair Caledonian (Arnold) is an afterpiece.29

A ninth stage work in the Shirley collection, which is only a fragment (it is

missing the first six and last pages), I have identified as Charles Dibdin' s The Recruiting

Sergeant from 1770.30 It is unusual and somewhat old-fashioned for its time because it

includes traditional recitatives between the arias, a practice that had gone out of favor

with British audiences and was therefore avoided by composers in favor of spoken

dialogue between musical numbers. 31

This work is also unusual as it is one of only two

English stage works (out of hundreds that were available for sale) published in full score

after 1760 (it included the original instrumentation for stage orchestra).32 Although

unusual in these ways, The Recruiting Sergeant offers an excellent example of the

28 See especially Fenner, Opera in London; Fiske, English Theatre Music; Porter, With an Air Debonair. 29 Designations for the type of stage work each piece represents from: Fenner, Opera in London, passim; Sutcliffe, Plays by Colman, passim . . w S PC I 14/ I I. 31 Recitative is the sung recitation of dialogue between arias in opera, oratorio, and cantata. 32 Hoskins, in Music in Britain, 261.

29

entertaining, light, undemanding, and often humorous nature of comic opera in general,

and of those in the Shirley collection specifically.

In The Recruiting Sergeant, the title character comes upon Joe, a farmer who is at

first ready to leave daily routine behind for the glories of military life. However, Joe's

wife and mother have other ideas and spend most of the work singing to him of the

reasons why he should stay at home and turn his back on war. After listening to the

Sergeant· s exciting and enticing tales of battles, Joe comically sings in lilting 6/8 time:

This slashing and smashing with sword and with gun, On consideration I've no inclination to be the partaker of any such fun.

I'll e'en stay home at my village and carry no arms but for tillage. The wounds shall be made with a scythe or a spade, if ever my blood should be shed; a finger or so, if one wounds, or a toe. For such a disaster one soon finds a plaister, but no plaister sticks on a head! 33

Joe has realized that he might wound a finger or a toe while tending his farm, but it

would be nothing that could not be mended with a "plaister," or bandage; the wounds of

battle, however, are not so easily bandaged since ''no plaister sticks on a head!"

This comical song is typical of its genre for several reasons. The melody is

uncomplicated, and is similar to popular fiddle tunes and country dances; it has a

relatively narrow range and short melodic phrases that are well suited to setting the

rhymes of the text. The subject matter of this song, and in fact the whole work, has a

33 S PC I 14/ I I.

30

message (or perhaps a moral), yet it is embedded in the entertainment-value of the work

and is not intended to be provocative. An anti-war subtext is represented by the way in

which the characters are represented: the character of the recruiting sergeant is

duplicitous, while the characters of Joe's wife and mother who are loving and kind (and

with whom the audience is meant to sympathize) are firmly against Joe joining the army

for riches and glory. In The Recruiting Sergeant, diligently tending to family, home, and

plow is more virtuous than going to war. This work, like many musical stage pieces and

popular songs of the late eighteenth century, couches a moral and/or political stance

within comical entertainment.

While many of the stage works in the Shirley collection were popular and

frequently performed in Britain and America, others were rather obscure and rarely

performed. For example, Caernarvon Castle, a musical drama by Thomas Attwood with

words by Reverend John Rose, was ostensibly a birthday ode for the Prince of Wales, and

was considered a failure. 34 There is a nominal plot, but the work is mostly comprised of

individual songs that deal with love, marriage, and patriotic themes. One song extols the

value of obedience in royal subjects; another celebrates the triumph of "the twelfth of

August," which was the Prince of Wales' Birthday. This work was less popular than

others the Carters could have chosen, but because of an association with London and with

famous composers and performers it would still have been considered fashionable - if it

had not been fashionable, it would not have been printed as sheet music and sold.

Some of the comic operas in the Shirley collection were performed by touring

theater companies in America. The state capitol moved to Richmond in 1780, and an

34 Fenner, Opera in London, 40 I. Rose and Attwood collaborated on three works together, only one of which was successful.

31

active theatre scene emerged. It is possible that the Carters attended these performances

in Richmond, but no documentary evidence of their attendance exists. Of the many comic

operas performed in Richmond, the Carters owned three vocal scores. lnkle and Yarico

was performed in Richmond in both January and December of 1804, The Farmer was

performed three times between 1790 and 1796, and as late as 1819 The Mountaineers

was presented. However, there were several works of greater fame and widespread

popularity performed numerous times in Richmond, such as No Song No Supper

(Storace), Rosina (Shield), and the Maid of the Mill (a pastiche of formerly composed

miscellaneous music), for which the Carters do not seem to have owned any music. 35

This suggests that they did not purchase sheet music for every production that they may

have had the opportunity to see in Richmond and raises the question of taste: why did the

Carters choose the works they did? What was it that attracted them to certain comic

operas? The subject matter? The music? The composers? The performers?

Some of the stage works in the Shirley collection have fairly challenging

keyboard parts to accompany the vocal lines; these keyboard parts make it difficult to

accompany oneself when singing. An amateur wishing to play these songs would have to

be a rather proficient musician. Perhaps there were members of the Carter family able to

play through some of the more difficult keyboard parts, or perhaps the works were

purchased for the enjoyment of the vocal lines only. Since many individual songs from

stage works often became Hhits," the vocal scores of stage works may have been enjoyed

for their melodies and subject matter, rather than for an overall musical effect of vocal

Iine(s) and accompaniment. Another possibility suggested by music scholars is that the

35 Stoutamire, Music of the Old South, 109-113.

32

practice at home was sometimes to play the left hand part (bass) on the keyboard while

singing, and to only add the right hand part when the voice was resting.36 This simplified

matters greatly. The vocal lines are usually not very demanding. Conveniently for

amateur musicians, many of the professional actor-singers for whom the vocal lines were

written were better actors than singers, and their parts were therefore rendered less

challenging to accommodate them.37 For instance, Charles Dibdin was known for writing

songs that were more theatrical than they were musical: they were meant to amuse, not

reach for great heights of artistry, complexity, or difficulty.38

The Shirley collection contains several single popular songs and ballads arranged

for one or more voices with harpsichord or pianoforte accompaniment. Many of these are

songs from comic operas that had gained popularity and were available for sale

individually, much the way that singles are sold today. Consumers had the option to buy

a score of an entire comic opera, or could select just the highlights from various stage

works. Other popular songs were not taken from larger works, but were written as

incidental works for theater performances by star actors, and then sold for amateur

consumption.

Three songs by the prolific James Hook, "The British Fair with Three Times

Three" ( 1794 ), "Then Say My Sweet Girl Can You Love me" ( 1795), and "The Lass of

Richmond Hill" ( 1790) had all been performed by famous theater personalities at

fashionable venues. To advertise the songs for sale, printers often included the name of

the performer associated with a song, and the name of the pleasure garden or theater

36 Sadie, in Music in Britain, 352-3. 37 Hoskins, in Music in Britain, 262. 38 Ibid., 288.

33

where the work had been performed. For example: "Be Gone Dull Care, A Favorite

Duett, As Sung with the Greatest Applause, At Harrison & Knyvett's Concerts."39 Or,

"'The Lass of Richmond Hill as Sung by Mr. lncledon with the utmost applause at

Vauxhall Gardens Composed by Mr. Hook."40 Naming the venue and performer indicated

the fashionableness, and therefore suitability of a particular work for domestic

enjoyment.

The ""Lass of Richmond Hill" is typical of a fashionable song written for public

performance, and then printed and sold for amateur performance in the home. The

melody is sweet and rhythmically unpretentious, and the text is simple. As is typical of

many of the songs in the Shirley collection, this one refers explicitly to British cultural

identity.

On Richmond Hill there lives a Lass more bright than May Day morn, Whose charms all other maids surpass a Rose without a Thorn. This lass so neat with smiles so sweet has won my right good will, I'd crown resign to call thee mine, Sweet lass of Richmond Hill.41

This first verse and chorus refers both to a famous, scenic location near London, and to

gossip about an affair of the Prince of Wales.42 What could be more in vogue?

The second and third verses offer an excellent example of style of classical

allusions and pastoral references also fashionable in such music:

Ye Zephyrs gay that fan the air and wanton thro' the grove Oh whisper to my charming fair I die for her I love. This lass so neat. ..

How happy will the Shepherd be who calls this Nymph his own

39 SPC 114/6 40 SPC 11411 41 SPC 114/l 42 Fiske, '"Concert Music II," in Johnstone and Fiske, eds. Music in Britain, 269

O may her choice be fix' d on me, Mine' s fix' d on her alone. This lass so neat ...

"The Lass of Richmond Hill" was a very successful song for James Hook. Its style

34

exemplifies both the fashionable songs of the era in general and the music of the Shirley

collection, specifically.

Scottish tunes, songs, and poems were at the height of fashion in this period in

London. ""A Second Set of Scots Songs,"43 compiled and arranged by Robert Bremner

(often known today as the Bremner collection), was one of several ubiquitous collections

of Scottish tunes and songs in vogue throughout the Colonies and Great Britain for

decades. This collection first appeared 1775 and was reprinted many times. The version

in the Shirley collection was printed by Preston and Son in 1795. It includes twenty-six

songs set to popular Scottish melodies. This collection includes songs such as "The

Highland Laddie," "Lochaber," "Waly, Waly," and "Chevy Chase," all of which were

popular enough to have appeared in other similar collections. According to Richard

Crawford, "Chevy Chase" dates to the early 1600s and tells in great length (thirty-six

stanzas) a story of British slaughter. It tells the tale of Piercy, Earl of Northumberland

who goes deer hunting with his army and meets with a Scot, Earl Douglas and his army.

After the noblemen have fought hand to hand to the death, their armies slaughter each

other.44 This was a song of long-lived popularity in a collection that enjoyed wide

distribution.

Another renowned set of songs found in the Shirley collection was that of

William Jackson ('~of Exeter" 1730-1803). Jackson wrote four sets of songs to be

43 SPC, 114/ 12. 44 Crawford, America's Musical Life, 43.

performed in concerts in Bath. These were very popular and the sheet music for them

sold very well in Britain and America45 due to their association with the fashionable

setting for which they were written. However, their popularity for home use is curious

since they were printed in full score, usually with four or five staves that required

extensive instrumentation to be performed. It is highly unlikely that many homes that

35

held this music could accommodate the requirements of two cellos, horns, oboes, etc. The

instrumental parts are also clearly intended to be played by fairly accomplished

musicians, which would usually mean professionals. Yet this music was very popular. In

a London home where social circles were large and opportunity for informal domestic

·"concerts" was greater it is more likely that Jackson's songs could have been performed

as written. But at Shirley where neighbors (and therefore fellow musicians) were few and

far between, it is more likely that these songs were played without the full complement of

musicians, but instead with only the vocal line and keyboard part. The sheer popularity

of Jackson's songs made them an appealing addition to a music collection regardless of

whether the richness of multiple instrwnental lines could be achieved.

Although most songs and ballads were arranged for soprano voice, it was not

uncommon for them to be performed by male voices an octave lower than written.46

Some of these songs include indications for optional instruments in addition to keyboard

such as German flute, English guitar, violin, or harp. For example, the music for "The

Anacreontic Song as Sung at the Crown & Anchor Tavern,"47 includes three versions of

45 Fiske, in Music in Britain, 241-246. 46 Johnstone, in Music in Britain, 162-5. 47 The Anacreontic Society was a gentleman's club for amateur musicians formed in 1766 in London. The melody of "The Anacreontic Song" was later used for the national anthem of the United States.

36

the song: one arrangement in C Major for voice and keyboard that includes all six verses;

a second in G Major for guitar (and optional voice); and a third in D Major for the

German flute (and optional voice). This type of multiple arrangement printing appears in

several works in the collection and was a common practice that allowed versatility in

instrumentation for the consumer (and was therefore a selling point). The music could be

enjoyed on whatever instrument the consumer happened to have on hand.

The texts of the vocal music in the Shirley collection fall into a few basic

categories: sentimental, romantic and/or pastoral texts, comic texts, patriotic or

nationalistic texts (celebrating Britain), soldier/sailor texts (some of which denigrate war

and the effects of war on individual lives), and texts that depict gender differences. Only

one song in the collection could be considered a drinking song. The "Anacreontic Song"

celebrates entwining the ""myrtle of Venus with Bacchus' vine." The absence of other

drinking songs is remarkable since they were hugely popular in America and enjoyed

wide distribution. Unsurprisingly, Thomas Jefferson's collection of music includes a

veritable cornucopia of drinking songs. I interpret this lacuna in the Shirley collection as

an indication that this music was mostly for the use of the female members of the

household. Drinking songs tended to be the province of men and were often associated

with men's clubs and societies, as is the case with the "Anacreontic Song."

Keyboard instruments - harpsichord and pianoforte - were central to eighteenth­

century music. There were some genres such as a cappella vocal music and instrumental

(non-keyboard) duets that were popular especially in the music clubs of London, but the

most prevalent forms of music required the use of a keyboard. All of the eighteenth-

37

century sheet music in the Shirley collection calls for a keyboard instrument for its

performance.

Throughout the eighteenth century keyboard instrwnents came progressively to be

within the compass of women, as men began to see such instruments as potentially

eff eminate.48 As musicologist Diack Johnstone condescendingly says, "much of the

eighteenth-century harpsichord repertoire was composed with the limitations of the

fem ale performer particularly in mind. "49 I think this statement has less to do with the

fact that they were female and more to do with the fact that there were so many young

women demanding access to musically attainable sheet music. It was not, after all, the

sole occupation of most women; the expectation of women was not that they should be

artists, but should represent that which is artistic.

A genre of instrumental chamber music known as "accompanied sonatas"

provided a forum for women and men to play music in the parlor together. Typically,

these sonatas feature a keyboard part that could easily stand alone - the accompaniment

part is for the violin or flute and is so simple and inconsequential that it is hardly required

for the piece to be successfully performed. This was to allow the presumed female

performer at the keyboard to shine while her male accompanist took a lesser and

therefore more gentlemanly role (on the flute or violin)50 by deferring to her

accomplishments. The man could also therefore appreciate her performance even while

48 See Leppert, Music and Image. 49 Johnstone, in Music in Britain, 188. 50 Violin and German flute (transverse flute) were instruments appropriate for gentlemen; the English guitar (sometimes simply called, guittar) was considered a ladies' instrument and can be seen in the hands of elite women in portraiture. The violin and flute were considered inappropriate for ladies due to the ways in which one must contort the upper body and or face to hold and play the instrument.

38

he played since his part was so simple it would hardly keep him fully focused on his own

notes. These sonatas were ideal for courtship in logistical terms as well. A young lady

and her non-portable keyboard instrument were likely to be in her own home when an

opportunity arose for her to perform. She would have needed to practice these sonatas

prior to playing them for company, but the accompaniment parts could easily have been

sight read by a visiting gentleman; he would not have needed to see the part before sitting

down for an impromptu performance. Such music making provided young people with an

excuse to spend time together. A young lady could exhibit her manners, skills, decorum,

and character to a prospective partner while observing the same of him in close

proximity. In this respect this form of music making was much like dancing.

Of the music in the Shirley collection for which publishing dates can be assumed,

the accompanied sonatas in the collection are earlier ( 1775, 1781, 1787) than the solo

keyboard works ( 1790, 1795, 1798). This is in keeping with the changes in fashion taking

place over these years. Later in the century fewer men were learning to play flute and

violin, and therefore fewer men would have been able to accompany these keyboard

works. 51 These shifts in fashion are reflected in what was available for sale, but it is

difficult to know whether they reflect any changes in music-making practices in the

parlor of Shirley.

A genre conspicuously missing from the Shirley collection is sacred music.

Among the books in the Shirley Plantation Collection are several of a religious nature

(such as collections of sermons) but no evidence of hymnals or other such sacred musical

works exists. Yet it is clear that the Carters were very concerned with faith and the

51 Leppert, Music and Image, 14-25.

39

religious upbringing of their children. In a letter written to his children in 1803 Robert

Carter (1774-1805; son of Charles of Shirley) offers "some advice to which I will beg

your attention." This advice includes his thoughts on the evils of "ardent spirits," and an

entreaty for them to ··read the New Testament," and "respect and obey the ten

commandments [sic]." Carter continues, "let your father conjure you by all you hold

precious or sacred to consider yourselves amenable to an all-wise, all powerful,

incomprehensible and just God who createth, governeth and disposeth of all things

present and future as seems good to him. "52 He seems to have been a father who would

have encouraged the singing of psalms and hymns in the home and who was raised with a

strong and central faith, not at all uncommon in late eighteenth-century Virginia.

The organized harpsichord the Carters owned suggests that sacred music could

conveniently and appropriately have been enjoyed in the house. This instrument was

versatile: it could be played as a harpsichord for secular music, as an organ for sacred

music, or as both sounding together for chamber music of either a secular or sacred

nature. Organs are associated with sacred music, and although they can be used to

accompany secular music, their sound is inextricably linked to sacred aesthetics. The

Carters could just as easily have owned a plain harpsichord or plain pianoforte. That they

chose an organized instrument may indicate that they wanted the ability to enjoy the

sound of an organ at home and therefore the lack of sacred music in the eighteenth­

century collection does not prove that they did not own any. It is possible that a collection

of sacred music at Shirley from this era may have been separated from the secular music

at some point and then lost, given away, or destroyed.

~2 SPC, 1/4.

40

Several aspects of this sheet music collection raise questions that appear to be

unanswerable. Yet they are worth asking and pondering for the sake of better

understanding the context in which the music was used and what meaning its use held.

The first and most obvious question is, who played the music? Second, who heard it?

What did the music sound like? Did the performance aesthetics of this British music

differ in America from in Great Britain? Did a multi-cultural exchange between Shirley's

white and black residents have an effect on the aesthetics of sound?

The musical content of the collection - light and entertaining keyboard music,

suitable for amateurs - suggests that it was most likely intended for use by women (and

girls) at Shirley. The texts of the songs, and the quantity of both solo and accompanied

keyboard sonatas point to women's music making.

There is no evidence to indicate how the Carters procured their London printed

sheet music, but given evidence of specific directions for silver pieces that Charles

special-ordered from London during the 1780s and 1790s, it is likely that the music was

being handled in a similar way. It is possible that Charles ordered specific pieces of

music, but he may have simply requested a parcel of music without specifying actual

titles or composers. Either way, like the silver Charles procured, this sheet music was

highly fashionable: it was British.

CHAPTER3

Praxis and Function of Domestic Music Making in Early Republic Chesapeake Plantation Society

41

Everyday l(j'e, like life on the stage, is talk and signs and significant action. Our ability to make sense of this theatre is our cultural survival gene.

- Greg Dening, Performances (xv)

Such a countenance, such manners! And so extremely accomplished for her age! Her performance on the piano-forte is exquisite.

- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Erving Goffman defines performance as "all the activity of a given participant on

a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants."1 In

this sense, the performance of music in a parlor was an attempt to influence the

participants (audience as well as performer) to discern the talents, accomplishments, and

rectitude of the musician(s). In turn the audience also performed rectitude in its ability to

receive the performance appropriately. I would argue that the performance of music in

the eighteenth-century parlor was more an enactment of self than a performance-of-music

as we might think of one today. The music is not the important ingredient in the activity

or interaction; it is merely a vehicle through which to perform aspects of identity. In

Goff man's terms, the musical sounds and the physical objects of music-making

(instrument, sheet music) are simply part of the "front," defined as the "expressive

1 Goff man, Presentation of Self, 15.

42

equipment" crucial to defining a particular type of performance.2 In a parlor performance

of vocal music, even the singer's voice could be considered part of her "personal front,"

or set of personal markers that convey expression.3 So while domestic music making was

an important activity and a means by which to engage with ideologies and identity, the

music itself was merely part of a greater performance of social role. Playing a "social

role," Goffman explains, is defined as "the enactment of rights and duties attached to a

given status. ,,.i By owning a house with a room specifically designated for the social

display of manners, taste, and education, which included an instrument and sheet music,

white elites such as the Carters were enacting their perceived social role.

In addition, performing music as a form of cultural expression is an act of what

Victor Turner calls '"creative retrospection in which meaning is ascribed to the events and

parts of experience. "5 Turner says that performative genres allow communities to reflect

on their status and modes. Turner states, "In a sense, every type of cultural

performance ... is explanation and explication of life itself .... Through the performance

process itself, what is normally sealed up, inaccessible to everyday observation and

reasoning. in the depth of socialcultural life, is drawn forth. ,.,6 In other words, the

performance of music, such as in the parlor at Shirley, makes accessible the aspects of

status and social modes that are usually latent.

Elite Virginians like the Carters, I suggest, were required by society to perform

their eliteness and correlation to the elite group identity, which they did in part through

2 Ibid., 22. 3 Ibid., 24. 4 Ibid., 16. 5 Turner, From Ritual to Theatre, 18. 6 Ibid., 13.

43

domestic music making; furthermore these performances of elite status through music

were opportunities for creative cultural retrospection. The stage on which elites like the

Carters exhibited their group and individual identities was the domestic stage. The

objects and actions displayed on their domestic stages provided a means to perform

alliance to the group identity through an adherence to fashion, as well as a means to

articulate individual identity (the Self) by choosing unique objects and actions. In this

chapter I would like to suggest that by choosing to buy (and we assume perform)

particular selections the Carters were aligning themselves with the prevailing cultural

fashion, but at the same time were also expressing and grappling with social tensions. A

performance of this music in the Shirley parlor was both a performance of the family's

social role and expected adherence to fashion (a la Goffman) as well as a reflexive act of

""creative retrospection" (a la Turner).

This chapter will address two sets of evidence in order to unpack the praxis,

function, and significance of domestic music making as a complex form of identity

performance. First, two diaries kept by young women of Virginia contemporary to the

period of the Shirley sheet music will illuminate the kind of influential performance of

social role defined by Goffman. Second, exemplary selections from the Shirley collection

will help elucidate what Turner describes as performance as an act of retrospection in

which the tensions of everyday life that are normally inaccessible and/or inexpressible are

brought forth.

Before these two bodies of evidence and their implications are discussed, some

context is required: an explanation of the ways in which the parlor was understood is

followed by an elucidation of some secondary evidence regarding ideas about gender and

44

music making in relation to both perceptions about leisure and appropriate means of

displaying accomplishment.

Within elite domestic landscapes in Virginia at the end of the eighteenth century,

rooms in the home were articulated and specialized to reflect gentility, refinement,

identity, ideology, and gender roles. Private homes were shaped to reflect and emulate the

hierarchies and rituals of public spaces.7 A space for gender negotiations and partial

parity, the parlor8 was a space in which men and women hosted guests and took part in

performances of gender through rituals such as serving tea (feminine) and spirits

(masculine), and playing/hearing music and dancing (both feminine and masculine). The

parlor was a unique space in elite homes because of its gendered duality. While other

important semi-public spaces in the home were masculine, such as the dining room,

passage, and hall, the parlor was a stage for both masculinity and femininity to be

performed together. Particularly however, this space was crucial for the semi-public

performance of femininity because so many other spaces were dominated by masculinity;

this was therefore a special place in which women could express female identity .9

Domestic music making in the late eighteenth century was one of many ways in

which white elites performed their identities within the semi-public spaces of their

7 Wells, HThe Planter's Prospect," 29. 8 The parlor in the eighteenth century may also have been called a saloon, or more often, drawing room. Today this room at Shirley is referred to as the parlor, but it is not apparent what the family called the space in the eighteenth century. The use and intent of the space was the same regardless of its name. For domestic room use and naming see, e.g. Wenger, "The Central Passage"; Wells, "The Planter's Prospect"; and Upton, "Vernacular Domestic Architecture." 9 For gendering in elite domestic spaces see Wenger, Wells. Probate inventories reveal that dining rooms, the most important and ornate rooms in the house, were often masculine and housed guns, shaving equipment, surveying instruments, swords, and other male paraphernalia, whereas parlors were more often devoid of such items and boasted instead tea tables, card tables, and ladies' desks.

45

homes. It was a form of entertainment, but was also bound to specific notions of gender

and social status. A woman's musicianship was for her leisure and education, and was a

means especially for an unmarried woman to perform feminine abilities and display

gentility to others of her station in society. Like many other objects found in semi-public

domestic spaces, sheet music enabled the conspicuous display (or performance) of

affluence and status. Displayed upon a keyboard instrument in a family's parlor, sheet

music could visibly display taste, sensibility, education, and refinement; and when

performed that music would do the same in an oral/aural fashion.

As described in chapter two, it appears that the style, instrumentation, and genres

in the Shirley sheet music collection indicate that the music was mostly intended for use

by women and girls in the house. Increasingly during the late eighteenth century it

became prudent for young women to display their accomplishments in the privacy of the

domestic realm rather than in the uncertain and potentially unsuitable public sphere.10 The

domestic space lent such performances authenticity and safety, whereas conspicuous

displays of accomplishment in public spaces to captivate the male gaze were rendered

. · II mappropnate.

Yet at the same time elite women were allowed greater access than ever to a

wider variety of public social settings. 12 Attending theater performances in Richmond

may have been just such an opportunity for the women of Shirley. The Carters owned

10 Bermingham, Learning to Draw, 184. 11 Ibid. 12 Vickery, The Gentleman's Daughter, 288.

46

several scores from popular comic operas that were performed in Richmond. 13 These

special social occasions could be relived time after time at home through the ownership

of sheet music. Perhaps Anne Carter attended performances in Richmond and later

connected with her experience and with the world outside her door through the

enjoyment of music in her parlor, which she had seen performed in public. Sheet music

enabled public entertainment to be brought into the domestic realm, and subsequently

enabled performances of that music both fashionably akin to yet disparate from public

rt. 14 pe ormances.

Playing music like that found in the Shirley Collection with even basic

competency requires several hours of learning and practicing before a performance in

front of an audience - even an audience of family. For elite young ladies, activities such

as music practice, embroidery, and learning the duties of housekeeping were their work.

Ironically however, activities such as music were crucial to the performance of identity

because they represented leisure. The time spent in practice had value as it improved a

woman's skills and therefore her merit as a potential wife. Embroidery, too, emulates

work, yet is an artful pursuit outside of (or perhaps above) the household economy. Such

pursuits differentiated elite young women from those of lower status whose work

included activities such as the production of food and clothing.

Scholar Richard Leppert demonstrates that musical proficiency by upper-class

men and women was viewed in rather contradictory terms. Increasingly toward the end of

13 Stoutamire, Music of the Old South, 74-5, 109-113. Performances in Richmond include: The Farmer, 1790, 1791, and 1796; lnkle and Yarico, January and December of 1804; The Mountaineers, 1819. 14 The Early Republic witnessed a rise in several forms of print culture - especially in print media for women. (Vickers, The New Nation, 150; 152-3) Sheet music, intended for use in the home, was a part of this trend.

47

the eighteenth century learning music was considered less appropriate for active, useful

men. It was gradually thought that young men ought to spend their time more

productively, by studying subjects that would further their abilities in public lives and

careers. Women, on the other hand, were encouraged to become musical, but not too

musical: any activity that revealed or exhibited real effort or labor was ideally to be

avoided so as not to align women with actual work or professionalism. Increasingly elite

women were encouraged to adopt a soft, effortless appearance. Leppert uses portraiture

of women with instruments to demonstrate this point. Young ladies were often depicted

as barely touching the keyboards of their instruments so as not to come too close to

actually ""working" at music whereas portraits of professional musicians depicted

gentlemen exerting effort into their craft. 15 Accomplishments were valued and expected

in women so that men could admire them, but their enactment was to be more artifice

than art.

Imagine the parlor at Shirley where a young lady of the house is seated at the

keyboard practicing her newest song. First she might become comfortable with the

keyboard part and then begin to learn the vocal line. It might take quite some time to

begin to piece together the vocal part and keyboard accompaniment. As she is stumbling

through this tedious process, we can imagine who her unwitting audience might be.

Slaves working in the house, siblings going about their morning activities, men coming to

the house on business, aunts and uncles on an extended visit, and parents might all be

privy to the sounds coming from the parlor.

15 Leppert, Music and Image, 136.

48

Evidence from Women's Diaries of Performance on the Parlor Stage

In lieu of evidence unique to Shirley that can illuminate the praxis and function of

domestic music making there, I will explore two diaries kept by upper-class women

living in Virginia in the last quarter of the eighteenth century in contextually similar

settings to that of Shirley. The diaries of Frances Baylor Hill (1797), 16 and Lucinda Lee

Orr ( 1787), 17 both unmarried young women, provide glimpses of domestic music making

by revealing general attitudes and activities. These diaries demonstrate the ways in which

the performance of music was carried out and the performance of status was understood.

Frances Baylor Hill 18 demonstrated a high value placed on industriousness in her

life: she carefully recorded the productive activities of each day, such as sewing, knitting,

letter writing, reading, and musical activities. She was especially careful to notate how far

she progressed each day on particular sewing projects. Being productive in her "work,"

as she called it, was clearly something by which she measured her life. Although upper

class, Frances was not of the highest echelon (she was of a slightly lower status than the

young women at Shirley); her work seems to have been needed to contribute to the

household economy in ways that the work of higher status unmarried women did not.

Frances wrote, "knit a little on my stocking, read a little play' d a little, & sung a

little."19 Two months later she wrote, "read a little sew'd on the shirt play'd on the

Harpsichord & Mandalin, walk'd with Miss Betty to her henhouse got some eggs."2° For

Francis, it appears that practicing music was akin to her other productive activities such

16 Bottorff and Flannagan, eds. "The Diary of Frances Baylor Hill (1797)." 17 Orr, Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia. 18 Frances wrote in her diary every day for a single year as an exercise to test her discipline and record her daily life for future remembrance. 19 Bottorff, 8. January 11. 20 Ibid., 19. March 21.

49

as knitting, mending clothes, and gathering eggs, and was differentiated from performing

music. An instance of music making that was more performative prompted Francis to

write: ""heard several pretty songs & sung one myself to oblige the ladies."21

Lucinda Lee Orr22 was highly aware of other people's appearances, intelligence,

and manners. Upon meeting new acquaintances she invariably made comments such as,

""he is homely, but a mighty worthy Man. "23 After seeing an old friend who did not

behave in a manner with which Lucinda was pleased, she wrote: "You would have

supposed she would have been delighted to see me - far from it, I assure you. She saluted

me just as if I had been a common acquaintance, and was not, I thought, at all glad to see

me; but I suppose it is fashionable to affect indifference."24 Lucinda was apparently

aware of various kinds of performances of identity, fashion, and gentility taking place in

semi-public domestic spaces such as the parlor.

It is apparent throughout Lucinda's diary especially, but also Frances', that these

women were attuned to parlor performance as a means of discerning the qualities of

others. This was an important social skill for women whose option and goal in life was to

be suitably married. Therefore, partaking in and observing all forms of parlor

performance were crucial tools for success in elite life.

What is evident from these diaries is that each woman felt she was expected to act

in a particular way, and therefore each woman performed the role in daily life that was

expected of her and expressed the performance of it in her journal. These women

21 Ibid., 13. February 7. 22 Lucinda wrote in this journal for two months while traveling to visit family and friends. It was written as an ongoing letter to her friend at home, Polly. 23 Orr, Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, 30. October 13. 24 Ibid, 55. November 12

50

understood and embraced performance as a necessary part of their situation in the social

hierarchy. As elites there were certain characteristics they were expected to learn and

display in accordance with their status, particularly in public. The diaries show that these

women performed their atlinnation of the group identity even when off-stage: they

performed their public roles in their diaries.

Similar to the entry in Frances' diary about singing to be obliging ("heard several

pretty songs & sung one myself to oblige the ladies. "25), Lucinda stated, "The young

Ladys have been singing for me: they are mighty obliging, and sing whenever they are

ask' t. "26 These passages suggest an aspect of performance etiquette: one plays and sings

only when asked, or feels obliged. There is a correlation here to the rule, "speak only

when spoken to." It is telling that this aspect of parlor performance etiquette is

mentioned more than once in each of these diaries. These women were so immersed in

the etiquette that they even displayed adherence to it in their journals.

Lucinda often mentioned the musical accomplishments of her cousin, Milly

Washington. For instance, "I have been making Milly play on the fortipianer for me; she

plays very well. I am more and more delighted with her."27 Later the same day she

described an evening in which she "prevailed on Milly to entertain us an hour or two on

the forti-pianer. "28 This is a significant comment because it indicates not only that

Lucinda ""prevailed" upon Milly but also that Milly did not merely "oblige" Lucinda's

request with a couple of pieces, but played for a rather extended period of time. This may

indicate, as Lucinda suggests, that Milly is rather accomplished. There were several other

25 Bottorff: 13. February 7. 26 Orr, 38. October 20. 27 Ibid., 43. October 27. 28 Ibid.

51

young women and girls around Lucinda at this time, but Milly was the only one

mentioned as ""performing" and "entertaining" at the keyboard.

A few days after Milly's long performance Lucinda wrote that A. Spotswood,

"the hopefull Youth," had arrived and "commenced Milly's lover" (had begun to court

Milly).29 There is particular weight, then, on the observation that Lucinda had been "very

much entertained hearing [Milly] perform on the Spinnet" on the same evening that Mr.

Spotswood arrived. 30 Milly's performance that evening was not simply a pastime to

·•oblige the ladies," but was also a means to display her accomplishments before an

eligible young man. According to the language of Lucinda's accounts, Milly

"entertained" friends and family, but "performed" when her suitor was present.

Music for dancing is another form of domestic music making that is apparent in

Lucinda's diary. One evening she writes, "We are all preparing to dance .. .I hear the

Fidlc. "31 But two days later, "the old man being sick that plays the Fidle, we have

diverted ourselves playing grind the bottle and hide the thimble [games]."32 It is likely

that ""llarry the Fiddler" who is "sent for" is a slave.33 The music he provides is for the

benefit of dancing, which is yet another type of performance in which the ladies engage.

The evidence in these diaries demonstrates the role of music within various forms

of complex and important social performances. Domestic music making presents a

multi-layered performance: it involves the literal performance of music, the performance

of etiquette, the performance of cultural meaning through texts (lyrics), the performance

29 Ibid., 47. November 4. 30 Ibid. (my italics) 31 Ibid., 33. October 15. 32 Ibid., 35-36. October 17. (original emphasis) 33 Ibid., 51. November 9.

52

of self, and the performance of group identity. It is a shame that these diaries do not tell

us which songs they sang and pieces they played, or we could learn even more about

domestic music-making practices. The musical practices revealed by the journals of

Frances Baylor Hill and Lucinda Lee Orr can however be correlated with the extant sheet

music collection from Shirley to speculate about late eighteenth-century domestic music

making in Virginia. The journals offer evidence of how music functioned in the home,

while the sheet music collection of Shirley reveals how the selection of music can carry

particular significance within the context of the semi-public parlor.

Performance of ••cultural Retrospection" in the Shirley parlor

In the late eighteenth century a long-standing tradition of social hierarchy based

on birthright and wealth began to shift into a democratic republic. Changes occurred in

the last quarter of the eighteenth century that left the rich and powerful families of

America with an ambiguous role in the new nation. Nascent tensions as well as old ones

came to the fore. Charles Carter of Shirley, born into status and money under the British

monarchy, was faced with tensions between an established way of life at the top of

Virginia· s social hierarchy, and the socio-political implications of the new republic.34 The

Carters' sheet music collection of this period reflects these tensions.

The Shirley collection represents what was popular and stylish for the time,

however certain pieces within the collection reflect conspicuous choices that raise

questions about the Carters' conception of their world. For instance, what does it mean

that the Carters, whose property at Shirley alone included 134 slaves, owned sheet music

34 See, Isaac, Transformation of Virginia.

53

for what is considered to be the first anti-slavery stage work, lnkle and Yarico? Another

work in the collection, a Canzonet by Giordani, also expressed sympathy for slaves.

These pieces were fashionable, like all of the music in the collection, but their

performance in the Shirley parlor suggests at least that the Carters were aware of tensions

over slavery, and at most felt a certain degree of discomfort with slaveholding. Also in

the collection are several songs from the 1790s reflecting sympathy for the French royal

family (who were losing their heads at the time) that I would argue are indicative of the

Carters' desire to maintain the lifestyle of a wealthy elite family of great consequence yet

reveal concern for the precariousness of that position. The Carters' selection of this sheet

music reflects aesthetic taste, but more significantly offers a nuanced view of the

discursiveness of music in the home.

It appears hypocritical that the family with more slaves than any other in Virginia

also owned music with an anti-slavery message, yet there is clear documentary evidence

of at least one family member's negative outlook on slave holding. Charles Carter's son

and intended heir, Robert Carter ( 177 4-1805), wrote a long and detailed letter of advice

and family history to his young, motherless children in 1803 as he left them behind to

pursue a medical education in Paris. Included in this letter is an explanation of his

abhorrence for the institution of slavery and his preference, therefore, for an occupation

other than agriculture:

From the earliest point of time when I began to think of right and wrong, I conceived a stron~ dis~ust to the slave trade and all its barbarous consequences. This aversion was not likely to be diminished by becoming a slave-holder and witnessing many cruelties, even at this enlightened day, when the rights of man are so well ascertained. (sic )35

35 SPC, 1/4. (Original emphasis.)

54

While we do not know how Charles felt about slavery, Robert makes his feelings on the

subject plain, expressing that slavery ought to have no place in enlightened society.

Rather than face a livelihood he could not support in conscience, he turned his back on

his duty to his father and to his children when he chose to go to Paris to become a doctor.

'"Canzonet Three," from Six Canzonets (1795) by Tommaso Giordani, echoes

Robert's view on slavery. Six Canzonets is a set of strophic, secular songs with poetic

texts, rich with sensibility and full of classical allusions. All six of these canzonets are set

to a slow tempo (either andante or larghetto ), and evoke a beautifully melancholy mood.

Amidst songs about female virtue, fading youth, and love is a single song expressing anti-

slavery sentiments. The third Canzonet begins:

Where the poor Negro with desponding heart, and busy thought still streach 'd across the main, plies with unceasing toil his destin' d part, whilst the fierce Sun beams scorch the naked plain, Appear, appear and sets the Captive free oh Guardian Angel Sainted Liberty, oh guardian Goddess Sainted liberty, Sainted liberty.36

The song continues with three more verses, which address other iniquities in the world to

which ""Sainted Liberty" should address her attention, namely all forms of tyranny. For

instance,

Where the bold Hero first in freedoms cause, Friend, Soldier, Champion to the human race, feels the keen rigour of the tyrants laws, And scorns to purchase mercy with disgrace, Appear, appear &c.

Giordani begins the song with the plight of the ''poor negro" in slavery and

follows with verses about noble heroes and statesmen who are wrongly imprisoned for

36 SPC, 114/14.

55

standing up for freedom's cause. The song parallels the predicament of those who are

wrongly imprisoned with those who are enslaved, suggesting that both black slaves and

white prisoners of injustice deserve liberty.

I suggest that a performance of this song in the Shirley parlor in the late 1790s

would have been understood as an espousal of the virtue of liberty, and freedom from

tyranny more akin to the values of the American Revolution than the values of abolition.

However, the expression of sympathy for the ''poor negro" in the first verse is clear and

provides an excellent example of the ways that such a song can be both fashionable, and

gently subversive. While the anti-slavery message of the Giordani canzonet is subtle,

another work from the Shirley collection conveys its implications much more stridently.

Jnkle and Yarico (1787) was one of several collaborations between composer

Samuel Arnold and librettist George Colman the Younger.37 The work was first

performed at the Little Theatre in London and gained long-lived popularity. It was

revived for almost fifty years, substantially longer than most works for the London stage.

Many scholars have referred to lnkle and Yarico as the most important early anti-

slavery stage work, yet others have downplayed its abolitionist overtones as somewhat

insubstantial. Yet the basic tale was so well known to period audiences that its

association with early abolitionist sentiments would have been understood.

The story of Inkle and Yarico had seeped into the collective consciousness of the

eighteenth-century Atlantic world by the time Colman and Arnold's comic opera came to

the London stage in 1787. A tale of Yarico, an Indian maid sold into slavery by her

unscrupulous English lover, first appeared in Richard Ligon's A True and Exact History

37 Other works by these collaborators in the Shirley collection include The Surrender of Calais (1791), and the Mountaineers (1793).

56

of the Island of Barbadoes (1657). This tale became a widely known tragic love story in

the eighteenth-century Atlantic world due to an embellished and reframed version by

Richard Steele in the widely-influential daily publication The Spectator (No. 11, March

13, 1711 ). This story was remade and retold throughout the eighteenth century and the

first third of the nineteenth century in England, France, Germany, America, and the

Caribbean.38

The comic opera version of lnkle and Yarico is no polemical work of art, yet the

popularity and persistence of the Inkle and Yarico story in the eighteenth century renders

it a significant work: it suggests one way in which British society was grappling with the

implications of transatlantic mercantilism and slavery. Inkle and Yarico, while couched

in the safety of light entertainment, presented a negative view of England's implication in

the slave trade at a time when the abolitionist movement was beginning to gain

. L d 39 momentum m on on.

Inkle is a young Englishman setting out to make his fortune. He and his fiance,

Narcissa, are en route to Barbados where Narcissa's father is the governor. However,

when the ship stops off the coast of an American wilderness to take on provisions, Inlde

and his servant, Trudge, are abandoned on shore. They are saved and protected by two

native women with whom they romantically reside until able to gain passage on another

ship bound for Barbados; the women leave their homeland to remain with their lovers.

Although Colman clearly sets the scene of the first act as "An American Forest"

(and several characters refer explicitly to that location), he evokes the sense that in fact

38 For lists of and examples from the many permutations of the Inkle and Yarico story see, Price, lnkle and Yarico Album; and Felsenstein, English Trader, Indian Maid. 39 Whether Colman and Arnold intended to sway its audiences or simply capitalize on a popular theme, is not clear.

57

the characters are in Africa: "natives" from whom the sailors flee are referred to with

words such as ""black" and "negro," and references are made to lion's skins.40

Furthermore, Colman complicates Yarico's ethnicity by emphasizing her Indian-esque

beauty on some occasions and invoking a sense that she is black at other times. Shortly

after being abandoned by their ship, Inkle and Trudge come upon Yarico and her servant

Wow ski as the two women are sleeping. Inkle is immediately struck by Yarico' s beauty

but the lower-class Trudge only has eyes for Wowski's African appearance.

Colman is known for blatant inaccuracy in his plays,41 but regardless of whether

he made an error or a carefully calculated choice in conflating American Indians with

Africans, the result is the same: the anti-slavery message is underscored by references to

blackness. Slavery in the collective British mind was done to people of African descent;

although enslavement of Indians was not unheard of, it was not at the heart of the British

imagination of slavery. Although Yarico and Wowski are both supposed to be American

Indian women, the texts of many of the songs often include puns and rhymes that allude

to a black complexion. For instance, Trudge sings to Wowski that he would not slight her

for a white woman because she is as "beautiful as any sloe." A sloe is a blackthorn, a

dark blackish colored fruit with a sour taste. Narcissa' s servant Patty sings a comical

song about lovers as marksmen who sometimes "aim at the heart, [but] hit wide of the

mark," and points out that a lover sometimes shoots "at a pigeon and kills a crow. "42 This

compares Inkle's white fiancee with a pigeon and his lover Yarico with a black crow. By

40 Libretto for lnkle and Yarico in Sutcliffe, Plays by George Colman, passim. (Act I, scene i.) 41 Sutcliffe, 67, footnote. 42 SPC, 11417.

metaphorically comparing the Indian women to black fruits, black birds, and Africans,

the issue of slavery is kept at the fore.

There are three pairs of lovers interwoven within the plot of lnkle and Yarico.

58

Each pair has a different relationship to the role of slavery, and together these characters

represent the ways in which slavery affects everyone, not just those directly responsible

for it. There is a love affair between the title characters, one between their respective

servants, Trudge and Wowski, and a third between the ships captain, Campley and

Inkle's white fiancee Narcissa. Captain Campley loves Narcissa regardless of her fortune

and is presented as a worthy, accomplished young man. He is a foil to Inkle who is

clearly only interested in Narcissa for her wealth. Campley and Narcissa represent

innocent lovers whose difficulties arise simply through association with people involved

in the slave trade. Yarico is constant in her love for Inkle even after she is almost sold for

a profit. Inkle's utter lack of honor and human warmth is directly implicated by his

immoral willingness to sell a woman who has loved and protected him. Trudge on the

other hand stoutly refuses to sell Wowski to a planter who has offered good money for

her. Trudge vociferously disdains the unchristian notion of selling the woman whom he

loves, and to whom he is grateful for his preservation in the wilderness. Like Campley,

Trudge is a foil for Inkle's unscrupulousness and greed. Throughout the opera it is

demonstrated that Inkle, who is linked to the slave trade, is selfish, avaricious, and

materialistic, and Trudge, while of a lower caste, is more sensible and honorable than his

master because he rejects slavery.

The outcome of Colman and Arnold's opera is that virtue, kindness, and

humaneness should and do prevail over avarice, selfishness, and disdain for the racial

59

Other. The upshot is that slavery can only end in tragedy, while love can overcome all

adversity and ethnic boundaries. lnkle and Yarico brought to the stage current tensions

over modernity and slavery in a socially acceptable discursive space: the theatre. Sheet

music of the songs from the opera was sold to consumers and therefore brought this

discursiveness into the parlor. The libretto of lnkle and Yarico was also available for

sale, but the Carters do not appear to have owned it. The published version of the vocal

score in the Shirley collection includes the three-movement overture and the songs, but

no dialogue. If one were unfamiliar with the plot, it would be difficult to ascertain it from

the songs alone. However, the Carters were undoubtedly familiar with the story from

Steele's Spectator or other sources, even if they had not seen Inkle and Yarico performed.

The collection of books from Shirley includes several editions of The Spectator,

including one translated into French.

Charles Carter of Shirley had supported the American Revolution.43 Yet in the

Early Republic, as republicanism found its shape, slaveholders such as the Carters found

themselves in an incongruous position. In a new nation espousing even a limited form of

egalitarianism, slavery was out of place and some slaveholders recognized this. Charles'

uncle, Robert Carter III, eventually freed his slaves - a drastic and financially devastating

decision. 44 Charles' son Robert was so distressed by slavery that he abandoned his

responsibilities of becoming his father's heir, left his young children (whose mother had

just died), and went to Paris to become a doctor. The significance of these decisions, so

firmly against established expectations of southern society, cannot be overemphasized.

Robert (of Shirley), who was raised by his parents to inherit the wealth and

43 Lynn, "Shirley Plantation, A History," 72. 44 See especially, Levy, The First Emancipator.

60

responsibilities of Shirley, was strongly against slaveholding, but what might his father

have felt? Charles was born and bred an elite planter who may have been inured to

slaveholding, yet as the world around him changed and evolved, might not he too have

evolved? The fact that sheet music for lnkle and Yarico and Giordani's Six Canzonets

existed under his roof suggests that he was at least aware of the moral, ethical, and

humanitarian problems inherent in slavery and of the changing cultural landscape. The

presence of this music at Shirley - in its physical form as sheet music, and in its aural

form produced through music performance - demonstrates that the Carters were engaged

with these issues.

Another type of music in the Shirley collection that points to uneasiness with the

direction taken by the new nation is that which represents British unease with the French

Revolution. The fairly obscure secular cantata The Royal Orphan's Dream (1793) is one

of these works. ''A Favorite Cantata, for the Harp, Piano forte or harpsichord Composed

by Mr. Hook,"45 with text by William Palmer, Esquire, is a two-movement cantata for

voice, two violins, and keyboard. Stylistically this cantata is unique in the collection: it is

the only work that is mostly in a minor key. The first movement includes several tempo

changes, each marked either adagio or andantino. The second movement is marked

"Andantino, poco lento e Sempre Piano" (relatively slow and always soft). Both the

minor key and the slow, solemn tempos set a somber, melancholy mood that is unlike the

majority of the music in the collection, which is cheerful, upbeat, and often humorous.

This work conveys grief over the French monarchs, sympathy for their orphaned

children, and hope that a French king will be restored. After having just witnessed and

45 SPC 114/6.

61

taken part in a successful revolution to sever relations with a king, the Carters owned

sheet music reflecting a common British sentiment - let's not let what's happening in

France happen in England! Although the British were able to recognize some

dissatisfaction with their constitution, they were in no rage to do away with their

monarchy.46 Perhaps as elite and wealthy slaveholding planters the Carters felt more

symbolically akin to the French monarch than to the implied equality they now shared

with those below them on the social ladder.

The first movement of The Royal Orphan's Dream, "Hark thro' the Bosom of the

troubled Air," begins with an extended instrumental introduction (a page and a half long).

The text is set in short phrases, interspersed with melodic instrumental lines.

Hark thro' the Bosom of the troubled Air. What shrieks bespeak the frantic Fiend despair. While mournfull Misery with her hollow Moan, Hangs on the helpless suff'rers dying groan. Is yonder Phantom my Slain Fathers Sprite? Mark how it wanders midst the gloom of Night. Does my poor Mothers tender spirit dwell amidst the horrors of this dreary Cell? Hark! What fond accents meet my list'ning Ear. What Soothing notes, of love and watchfull care.47

In this movement, the "slain father" is Louis XVI, beheaded in January 1793, and the

"poor mother" is Marie Antoinette, guillotined in October 1793. The "dreary cell" alludes

to the imprisonment of the orphaned royal children, who are listening in fear to shrieks

and moans until "fond accents" soothe them. These "soothing notes of love and watchfull

care" lull the children into sleep, hence the second movement begins:

Lull'd in the Bosom of Repose, Consume poor Babes the Midnight Hour, while soft Oblivion soothes your woes, and misery owns Sweet Slumbers Pow'r, The Rage that rears th' assassins Arm, Could not destroy, th' immortal Soul, Nor Patriot tenderness disarm nor fond Parental love Controul. Within the walls of this

46 See, Emsley, Britain and the French Revolution; Mori, Britain in the Age of The French Revolution. 47 SPC, 114/6.

rude cell, where fear and Pallid Murder roam, our airy spirits long will dwell t'avert the orphans threaten'd doom. And yet when mad rebellions o'er, And lawless anarchy is fled, May Patriot love, the Crown restore, again to deck a L .. lJ d 48

OUIS s 11ea .

The royal orphans find solace in sleep, while the spirits of their parents (musically

62

represented by the violin parts) protect them from "threaten'd doom." The dream of the

royal orphans, therefore, is that the "mad rebellion" will cease and the monarchy will be

restored.

The musical selections lnkle and Yarico and The Royal Orphan's Dream suggest

that while the Carters had been in favor of severing ties with Britain, they were also

uncomfortable with the implications of establishing a system of governance that

interfered with the socioeconomic and cultural hierarchy over which they had been

accustomed to presiding. Once liberty from the (financial) oppressions of Britain had

been achieved, the set of ideals under which the Revolution had been fought became

problematic for elites.

The semi-public parlor, as a stage for the performance of status, would have been

a perfect place to safely engage with morally or politically charged issues. Couching the

issue of slavery within a commonplace leisure activity such as music allowed the

problem to be brought into the open without actually confronting it, particularly if women

were the ones performing it.

Conclusions

The practice of domestic music making in England and America became

entrenched during the eighteenth century and led to the parlor music traditions of the

48 SPC, 114/6. (italics mine)

63

nineteenth century. As music making in the home became more popular and as the

growing middle class stimulated the so-called consumer revolution of the eighteenth

century the business of music printing boomed. The popularity and cachet of owning a

keyboard instrument that developed in the eighteenth century, and the musical genres that

arose for home amusement led the way to nineteenth-century domestic music making

The parlor in elite eighteenth-century Virginia was a stage on which cultural

identity was constituted, defined, and redefined: cultural presentations of identity - both

an individual's identity and the group identity to which that individual belonged - were

""performances" in the sense that Erving Goffman describes.49 Elite identity, wealth, taste,

and education were being "performed" through the practice of music making in late

eighteenth-century Virginia. Music making - a suitable, fashionable, leisure activity - on

the parlor "stage" was an act that allowed participants to perform and experience

gentility, taste, and status, and unconsciously engage with tensions latent in the world of

the Early Republic.

The Carters' music consumption spoke of the family's affluence and position in

society, and adherence to fashion. But music in an elite Chesapeake home contributed

more than a display of affluence, it provided an opportunity for a multilayered,

multivalent performance.

49 Goff man, The Presentation of Self, passim.

APPENDIX

Eighteenth-Century Sheet Music in the Shirley Plantation Collection Listed by Date

64

N.B. - These dates represent the earliest possible year in which each work became available from the printer/publisher responsible for the edition in the Shirley Collection. The collection box/folder number is given in parenthesis, followed by a brief description of the work.

1770 - The Recruiting Sergeant by Charles Dibdin (114/11); comic opera 1775 -Six Sonatas for the Harpsichord by James Hook (114/15); keyboard w/vln or fl 1780 - '"The Anacreontic Song" (114/1); popular song 1781 - Six Sonatas for the Piano Forte by Venanzio Rauzzini (114/16); keyboard w/vln 1784 - '"The Disconsolate Sailor" by James Hook (115/1); popular song 1785 - "'The Tobacco Box or a Soldier's Pledge of Love" (115/1); popular song 1787 - The Farmer by William Shield (114/5); comic opera

- Jnkle & Yarico by Samuel Arnold ( 114/7); comic opera - Simphonie Pour le Clavecin by J. F. Sterkel (114/13); keyboard w/vln & vc

1789 - Twelve Ballads [by various composers, see below] (115/3); collection of songs 1790 - "The Lass of Richmond Hill" by James Hook (114/1); popular song

- "Whilst Happy in my Native Land" (114/1); popular song - Two Rondos by Giovanni Paisiello ( 114/4); solo keyboard - ••Ma Charmante Petit Pille" by John Moulds (115/1 ); popular song - Twelve Songs set to Music by William Jackson of Exeter ( 115/2); collection of

songs with keyboard accompaniment and misc. instrumental parts 1791 - The Surrender of Calais by Samuel Arnold (114/18); stage work 1793 - Caernarvon Castle by Thomas Attwood (114/3); secular cantata

- The Royal Orphan's Dream by James Hook ( 114/6); secular cantata - The Mountaineers by Samuel Arnold ( 114/1 O); comic opera - "The Little Waist Defended" by James Hook (115/1); popular song

1794 - The Cherokee by Stephen Storace (114/2); comic opera - .. The British Fair with Three Times Three" by James Hook ( 114/1 ); popular song

1795 - ••Then Say my Sweet Girl Can You Love Me" by James Hook (114/1); popular song

- .. The Favorite German Hymn with Variations" by Ignace Pleyel (114/6); solo keyboard

- "Henry's Cottage Maid" by Ignace Pleyel (114/6); popular song with accompaniment for "Corni in A, Flauti, Violin 1, violin 2, Viola, Basso, cembalo"

- Love & Money or the Fair Caledonian by Samuel Arnold (114/9); comic opera -Six Canzonetsfor the Voice by Tommaso Giordani (114/14); collection of songs

-A Second Set of Scots Songs adapted by Robert Bremner (114/12); collection of popular songs (first printed in 1770)

- "Kate of Dover" by James Hook (115/1 ); popular song - "Oh Happy Tawny Moor" (from the Mountaineers) by Samuel Arnold (11511);

popular song - "The Engagement" by R. Burbridge ( 11511 ); popular song

1798 - 'Tink a Tink" By G. Nezat (114/4); keyboard solo 1800 - "A Prey to Tender Anguish" set by F. J. Haydn (114/4); popular song

Date of this printing unknown or questionable: - 1790-1795? - Eight Sonatas for the Piano-forte ... Selected & arrang 'd from the

Works of Mr. Ignace Pleyel by Mr. Lachnith ( 115/4); keyboard w/vln - "As Late on the Banks of Old Thames" by "Mr. Reeve" ( 114/1 ); popular song - The Dutchess of York's Minuet and Six Favorite New Dances (114/6);

collection of instrumental dance music, including instructions for each dance - "Be Gone Dull Care" ( 114/6); popular song - Unidentified fragment of a keyboard tutorial (114/8)

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- Fragments of miscellaneous works from a large set of formerly bound sheet music (114/ 17) including: "Sonata II" by Thomas Haigh for solo keyboard; "Scottish Air" (Rondo) by Haigh; "The Fowler: A Favorite Air Extracted from ... the Zauberflote Composed by Mozart."

- "General Doyles New March" ( 115/ 1 ); solo keyboard

Eighteenth-Century Sheet Music in the Shirley Plantation Collection Listed by Genre

Accompanied Keyboard Sonatas (Keyboard with secondary flute or violin)

• Simphonie Pour le Clavecin, 1787. Includes violin and cello parts. (114/13) • Six Sonatas/or the Harpsichord by James Hook, 1775. (114/15) • Six Sonatas for the Piano Forte by Venanzio Rauzzini, 1781. (114/16) • Eight Sonatas/or the Piano-forte ... Selected & arrang'dfrom the Works of Mr.

Ignace Pleyel by Mr. Lachnith, 1790-1795(?). (115/4)

Works for Solo Keyboard

• Two Rondos by Giovanni Paisiello, 1790. (114/4) • "Tink a Tink" By G. Nezat, 1798. (114/4) • ''The Favorite German Hymn with Variations" by Ignace Pleyel, 1795. (114/6) • Fragments of miscellaneous works from a large set of formerly bound sheet music

(114/17) including: "Sonata II" by Thomas Haigh for solo keyboard; "Scottish Air" (Rondo) by Haigh; "The Fowler: A Favorite Air Extracted from ... the Zaubertlote Composed by Mozart."

• "General Doyles New March" (115/ 1)

Single Ballads and Popular Songs

• ""The Anacreontic Song," 1780. (114/1) • "''As Late on the Banks of Old Thames" by "Mr. Reeve" ( 114/1) • "'The Lass of Richmond Hill" by James Hook, 1790. ( 114/1) • "'The British Fair with Three Times Three" by James Hook, 1794. (114/1) • ""Then Say my Sweet Girl Can You Love Me" by James Hook, 1795. (114/1) • "'Whilst Happy in my Native Land," 1790. (114/1) • "'A Prey to Tender Anguish" set by F. J. Haydn, 1800. ( 114/4) • ""Be Gone Dull Care" (114/6) • "Henry's Cottage Maid" by Ignace Pleyel, 1795. (114/6) • "Kate of Dover" by James Hook, 1795. (115/1)

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• ""Oh Happy Tawny Moor" (from the Mountaineers) by Samuel Arnold, 1795. (115/1) • ""The Engagement" by R. Burbridge, 1795. (115/l) • "Ma Charmante Petit Fille" by John Moulds, 1790. ( 115/1) • ""The Little Waist Defended" by James Hook, 1793. (115/1) • ""The Disconsolate Sailor" by James Hook, 1784. (115/1) • "'The Tobacco Box or a Soldier's Pledge of Love," 1785. (115/1)

Collections of Songs

• A Second Set of Scots Songs adapted by Robert Bremner, 1795. (114/12) • Six Canzonetsfor the Voice by Tommaso Giordani, 1795. (114/14) • Twelve Songs set to Music by William Jackson, 1790. [Each song calls for a different

instrumentation] (115/2) • Twelve Ballads, 1789. [A compilation of songs by different composers, including

Sarti, Anfossi, Kozeluch, Haydn, Sterkel, Pleyel, Sacchini, Davaux & Paesiello, '"adapted to English words with an accompaniment for a Piano Forte or Harpsichord."] ( 115/3)

Comic Operas and other Stage Works

• The Cherokee by Stephen Storace, 1794. ( 114/2) • Caernarvon Castle by Thomas Attwood, 1793. (114/3) • The Farmer by William Shield, 1787. (114/5) • The Royal Orphan 's Dream by James Hook, 1793. ( 114/6) • Jnkle & Yarico by Samuel Arnold, 1787. (114/7) • Love & Money or the Fair Caledonian by Samuel Arnold, 1795. (114/9) • The Mountaineers by Samuel Arnold, 1793. (114/10) • The Recruiting Sergeant by Charles Dibdin, 1770. (114/11) • The Surrender of Calais by Samuel Arnold, 1791. (114/18)

Dance Music

• The Dutchess of York's Minuet and Six Favorite New Dances ( 114/6)

Keyboard Tutorial

• Unidentified fragment of a keyboard tutorial (114/8)

Timeline of dates relevant to the occupation of the current great house at Shirley Plantation:

Y 1723 - Elizabeth Hill marries John Carter (son of Robert "King" Carter) Y 1723 - (circa) great house built by John Carter y 1742 - John Carter Dies

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y 1752 - Elizabeth Hill Carter remarries; she and 2nd husband (Bowler Cocke) live at Shirley

)..- 1771 - Elizabeth & Bowler Cocke die; Charles Carter inherits and renovates Shirley; lives there with 2nd wife (Anne) until 1806

).;.> 1803 - Charles writes will and intends Shirley for his son Robert; Robert's wife, Mary Nelson, dies

~ 1805 - Robert dies; Robert's orphaned children split their time between Shirley and the Nelson home in Yorktown until grown; Charles insures that his property will now pass to one of Robert's children (Hill Carter)

)lo- 1806 - Charles Carter dies; Shirley passes to Hill Carter (ten years old) );.- 1806 - thru 1816 - Shirley under guardianship of Hill's uncles Bernard and

Williams; this is a period of dubious record keeping Y 1809 - Anne Carter dies )..- 1810 - Many household items are sold by Hill's uncles Y 1816 - Hill Carter "takes possession" - begins a new era

Charles Carter's children (from both marriages*) That Lived to Adulthood

NAME Date Born Age in Age in Age in Age in 1785 1790 1795 1800

GEORGE (b. 1761) 24 29 34 39 MARY WALKER (b. 1763) 22 27 32 37 ELIZABETH (b. 1764) 21 26 31 36 CHARLES (b. 1766) 19 24 29 34 EDWARD (b. 1767) 18 23 28 33

ANNE HILL (b. 1773) 12 17 22 27 ROBERT (inherits Shirley) (b. 1774) 11 16 21 26 JOHN (b. 1777) 8 13 18 23 CATHERINE SPOTSWOOD (b. 1778) 7 12 17 22 BERNARD MOORE (b. 1780) 5 10 15 20 WILLIAMS (b. 1782) 3 8 13 18 MILDRED (b. 1786) -- 4 9 14 LUCY (b. 1789) -- 1 6 11 WILLIAM FITZHUGH (b. 1791) -- -- 4 9

* Those above the blank row in the table are from Charles' first wife, Mary Walker Carter, and those below are from his second wife, Anne Butler Moore Carter.

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Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1997.

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Britt, Judith S. Nothing More Agreeable: Music in George Washington's Family. Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, 1984.

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VITA

Sarah Gentry Glosson

Sarah Gentry Glosson was born in May 1976 in Toronto, Canada. She holds a

B.A. with a concentration in Music from the College of William and Mary ( 1998) where

she explored Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Music History, and Music Performance.

As an active performer, Ms. Glosson specializes in historical performance of baroque

music on viola da gamba and baroque 'cello. She has worked in education, conducting

youth orchestras and teaching music at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School.

Ms. Glosson began graduate work in American Studies in the fall of 2005 and has

developed interests in cultural studies, public history, performance studies, and

interdisciplinary explorations of the meaning of music in culture. Ms. Glosson lives in

Williamsburg with her family.

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